The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has received six applications from cloud service providers seeking accreditation under the government’s Cloud First Policy, the National Assembly was informed. The applications are currently under review, with the ministry assessing their alignment with policy, security, and regulatory requirements before any formal approvals are granted.
The update was shared in a written response by Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja to a question raised by MNA Syeda Amnah Batool during a parliamentary session. According to the reply, the accreditation process is ongoing and reflects the government’s broader efforts to encourage cloud adoption within public sector institutions while maintaining oversight on data protection and compliance. The minister stated that the ministry is actively evaluating submissions to ensure that prospective cloud service providers meet national standards related to cybersecurity, data sovereignty, and operational resilience, which are key components of the Cloud First Policy framework.
In her response, the minister also informed the House that MoITT has examined the potential use of Pakistan’s locally hosted Artificial Intelligence Cloud and Data Centre infrastructure established by Data Vault Pakistan. The facility, launched in November in collaboration with Nvidia, offers capabilities such as sovereign AI, GPU as a Service, and AI Cloud infrastructure. She noted that these capabilities could support digital government services by providing localized compute resources while ensuring data residency, cybersecurity safeguards, and adherence to regulatory obligations. The initiative is aligned with the objectives outlined in Pakistan’s National AI Policy as well as the Cloud First Policy, which emphasizes secure and scalable digital infrastructure for public sector use.
However, the minister clarified that MoITT has not yet been formally onboarded for production workloads related to the AI Cloud and Data Centre. She added that Data Vault Pakistan has not submitted an application for accreditation under the Cloud First Policy to date. As a result, while the infrastructure has been reviewed at an exploratory level, no formal engagement has taken place for operational deployment within government systems. Subject to established government procedures, including security clearances and inter ministerial consultation, the ministry may consider pilot projects or phased adoption of such infrastructure in the future, depending on national requirements and readiness assessments.
The minister outlined several potential areas where sovereign AI and cloud infrastructure could be utilized if approved. These include e governance platforms and digital public service delivery systems, cybersecurity initiatives such as Security Operations Centres and the national Computer Emergency Response Team, secure hosting of government data and analytics platforms, sector specific AI applications, and public sector research and innovation in artificial intelligence. She emphasized that any adoption would be guided by policy alignment, risk evaluation, and institutional coordination.
She further informed the National Assembly that internationally, governments have adopted public private partnership models to host sovereign digital and AI services. Citing examples from the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and United Arab Emirates, she noted that these models demonstrate how sovereign AI infrastructure and global service provisioning can operate together under clearly defined governance, security, and policy frameworks. According to the reply, such infrastructure could contribute to strengthening Pakistan’s national AI compute capacity while supporting broader digital policy objectives without compromising regulatory control or data security.
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