Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has given federal ministries until November to complete the groundwork for a bundle of artificial intelligence and digital projects being developed with the Chinese technology group Alibaba. Chairing a review meeting in Islamabad on 28 October 2026, he said every project should have clear targets, a timetable and a monitoring system, and he asked for a progress report once the deadline passes. The instruction turns a set of agreements signed during his visit to China into a short domestic delivery timetable.

What the cooperation covers

The projects span agriculture, health, exports and fuel supply. According to the Prime Minister's Office account of the meeting, work is already under way on AI-based models for farming, technology to track tobacco products, and a digital platform for exporting citrus fruit and olives. A special Pakistan Pavilion has also been set up on a dedicated Alibaba website to sell Pakistani products abroad. The prime minister welcomed Alibaba's help in getting farm goods into Chinese markets and backed further cooperation on automating parts of agriculture.

Health, training and fuel monitoring

Two specific tasks were singled out at the meeting. The prime minister ordered work on an early cancer detection system with Alibaba, including consideration of an AI-assisted diagnosis pilot, and directed the launch of an AI training programme for IT graduates under the Information Technology Ministry's Ignite programme. He also told the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority to build an analytics system, with Alibaba, to monitor the petroleum supply chain, and asked export authorities to work with the company to lift exports. Whether the November deadline is met will be the first real test of how far the partnership has moved beyond the memorandum signed at Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou.

Sources: Associated Press of Pakistan, PKRevenue.