A delegation from Pakistan Digital Authority, led by Chairperson Dr. Sohail Munir, visited the Competition Commission of Pakistan and met Chairman CCP Farid Ahmad Tarar to explore collaboration on digital markets and innovation aimed at fostering competition in Pakistan’s rapidly evolving digital economy. The PDA delegation included Chief of Staff Sophia Aziz Hasnain and Chief Digital Public Infrastructure Officer Sahibzada Ali Mahmud, while the Chairman CCP was assisted by Director General of the Market Intelligence Unit Ikram ul Haq and Secretary to the Commission Marryum Pervaiz.
The meeting focused on matters of mutual interest spanning digital markets, emerging technologies, and data-driven regulation, with both institutions exchanging views on how to promote innovation while ensuring fair competition takes hold as Pakistan’s digital economy continues to scale. The discussion reflects a growing recognition among Pakistani regulators that digital markets present distinct competition challenges not adequately addressed by conventional antitrust frameworks designed for traditional industries, including platform dominance, data concentration, network effects, and the speed at which digital market structures can shift in ways that outpace standard regulatory review cycles.
Both sides underscored the importance of ensuring that rapidly evolving digital markets remain competitive, transparent, and conducive to both innovation and consumer welfare, agreeing to explore avenues for future collaboration and knowledge sharing in areas of common interest. For Pakistan Digital Authority, which has been steadily building institutional relationships across government, including engagements with the Civil Services Academy and ongoing coordination on national AI policy and digital public infrastructure, formalising a working relationship with CCP adds a competition policy dimension to its broader digital governance mandate. As Pakistan’s digital platforms, fintech services, and e-commerce ecosystem continue to grow, having CCP and PDA aligned on shared principles for digital market oversight could help prevent the kind of regulatory gaps that have allowed dominant digital platforms in other markets to entrench positions before competition authorities developed the tools to respond effectively.
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