The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Association Front (PIAF) Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir has welcomed Pakistan’s inclusion on sellers list of world’s largest e-commerce platform of Amazon, saying that it would be a milestone for the National e-Commerce Policy, benefitting the youth, women entrepreneurs and the SMEs in the country. In a joint statement with vice chairman Javed Siddiqi, the PIAF Chairman said that the move also credited sustained engagement with Amazon since the last quarter of 2019 by the Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan’s Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in Los Angeles for this success. He said Credit also goes to the Pakistani diaspora and its continuous dialogue with the business community and public sector stakeholders through the National e-Commerce Council (NECC). Mian Nauman Kabir urges the Ministry of Commerce to continue discussions in the Focus Group for Amazon, including representatives from sellers, logistic companies, several Ministries and State Bank of Pakistan to further guide Pakistan’s business community on how to make best use of this opportunity. He said that a lot of hard work would have to be done in training, quality assurance, improvement in logistics, payment systems, and customer relationship management to reap full benefits. The move has encouraged the young entrepreneurs to train themselves in this regard and strive for continuous product improvement as a long-term continuous endeavour. He said that this would open a new chapter of supplier chain for Pakistani manufacturers, who have gained access to a worldwide e-commerce platform with Amazon, would now be able to sell directly to customers. Mian Nauman also hailed the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet for approving collateral-free lending of Rs60 billion to the SMEs and hoped the decision would also be implemented in its true spirit, as the schemes is aimed at facilitating those SMEs, which do not have collateral to get financing from banks. He said that the proposed scheme should enable SBP to partner with selected banks through a transparent procedure and provide collateral free financing to SMEs to promote sustainable economic growth and development in the country. PIAF vice chairman Javed Siddiqi said this new channel will encourage manufacturers to work back from customer needs, design new products, offer high quality at competitive prices and also access new market segments. Pakistan remained off Amazon’s list of sellers despite the company’s presence in India. Retailers from Pakistan, who wanted to sell their products on Amazon, registered their companies from other countries to bypass the lack of access.