On the sidelines of the E-Commerce Week, She met Chairman and Founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, said a press release received here on Wednesday.

The minister highlighted the infrastructure in Pakistan that had been put in place in IT & Telecom sector and informed Jack Ma on recent developments in this regard which had connected more than 40 million people through mobile broadband in the last two years.

She also highlighted several initiatives being undertaken for ICT penetration in Pakistan such as "ICT for Girls" program.

She underscored the importance of training for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to come online, market their products and fully benefit from the potential of E-Commerce.

She proposed that Alibaba could venture with Pakistan in training Pakistani MSMEs to come online, in addition to what had been planned by Alibaba Group as part of their future investment strategy in Pakistan.

Jack Ma appreciated the developments in Pakistan in the IT &Telecom sector.

Whilst appreciating the proposal, he agreed to look favorably into it.

Mr. Jack Ma also indicated his desire to visit Pakistan this year to meet the beneficiary girls of ICT for Girls program.

The Minister participated in the "Friends of E-Commerce for Development - (FED)" ministerial meeting, which was an initiative of Pakistan along with several other developing country members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to provide impetus to discussion on E-Commerce.