​HANGZHOU, CHINA – Monday 10 November 2025
The Department of Information and Communications Technology led a high-level National Government Delegation from Papua New Guinea, for a critical due diligence site visit and technical review at the Alibaba Group headquarters in Hangzhou, China.
​This mission is a core component of the formal process for evaluating declared Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), as required under the Digital Government Act 2022 (DGA). The objective is to conduct a deep-dive technical assessment of the Alibaba Cloud Apsara Stack, the company’s private cloud solution, to determine its suitability for PNG’s national needs.
​The review is directly linked to the government’s plans for implementing a secure, in-country private cloud. A key focus of the due diligence is to assess how the Apsara Stack solution will address and guarantee PNG’s sovereign data center requirements, ensuring all national data is kept secure and compliant with the Data Privacy and Protection Policy.
​Furthermore, the delegation is specifically examining the platform’s capabilities to integrate and host advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions within the national sovereign environment. This ensures that future government services can leverage modern AI tools while maintaining full control over national data and intellectual property.
​The delegation include senior officials from the Department of Finance, Prime Minister’s Department, Deaprtment of Education, Department of Personal Management, Department of Foreign Affairs, National Procurement Commission, and several others, as the nature of the visit is multisectoral.
This joint effort ensures the final implementation aligns strictly with all relevant national policies, for a resilient, secure, and modern digital government compliant with the Digital Government Act 2022.