Pakistan Digital Authority, led by Chairperson Doctor Sohail Munir, met with Lieutenant General Anwar Ali Hyder, Chairman of Fauji Group of Companies and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fauji Foundation, to explore strategic collaboration in support of the country’s digital transformation agenda. Member of Pakistan Digital Authority Aamer Rana also attended the meeting, which brought together the country’s newly established digital governance body with one of Pakistan’s largest business conglomerates.
The discussion centred on opportunities across Digital Public Infrastructure, artificial intelligence, sovereign cloud, government cloud infrastructure, secure data centres, data governance, and sector specific digital solutions. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to fostering public private partnerships aimed at strengthening digital innovation, data sovereignty, and secure digital infrastructure, positioning the meeting as an early step toward formal collaboration between the authority and Fauji Group’s various business units.
The meeting concluded with an agreement to initiate technical engagements and identify collaborative initiatives aligned with the Digital Nation Pakistan Act and the National Digital Master Plan, the two foundational instruments guiding Pakistan Digital Authority’s work since its establishment last year. The authority was created under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025 with a mandate to coordinate stakeholders on project evaluations, develop and enforce national data governance standards, advise on cloud infrastructure compliance, and build a national data strategy intended to break down long standing institutional silos across government departments.
Since taking charge of the authority, Munir, who previously worked on major digital government initiatives including the UAE Pass system and the Smart Dubai platform, has consistently framed Pakistan Digital Authority’s approach around what he describes as a Digital Public Infrastructure first policy, ensuring that government ministries build on shared foundational systems such as digital identity, digital payments, and data exchange rather than each developing separate, disconnected platforms. He has pointed to countries including Estonia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates as reference points for enterprise architecture and citizen experience, while acknowledging that many of these lessons need to be adapted rather than directly transplanted given Pakistan’s scale and the diversity of its federal and provincial government structures.
The engagement with Fauji Group adds to a series of partnerships and consultations Pakistan Digital Authority has pursued with various government bodies, provincial institutions, and private sector organisations since its formation, as the authority works to build out the technical and institutional foundations needed to implement the National Digital Master Plan. With Fauji Foundation operating across a wide range of sectors including manufacturing, cement, fertiliser, power generation, and financial services, the discussion around sector specific digital solutions suggests the collaboration could extend beyond core government infrastructure into digital transformation initiatives spanning some of Pakistan’s largest industrial and commercial operations.
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