Almaty hosted the first international e-commerce forum in Central Asia

On September 28, 2023 the first international forum on e-commerce in Central Asia - Central Asian E-commerce Forum 2023 was held in Almaty, which was attended by about 300 delegates, representatives of government and international structures, leading domestic and foreign marketplaces, financial and IT spheres, enterprises and startups, as well as independent experts and influencers from 6 countries.

Aizhan Bizhanova, First Vice Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, spoke at the opening of the forum, noting that Central Asia has a great industrial, trade and logistics, intellectual, personnel and scientific and digital potential, which in the near future will bring mutual trade turnover of CA countries to $15 billion. Kazakhstan is the leader in e-commerce in the region. The market volume by the end of 2022 amounted to about $4 billion or 12.5% of the total retail turnover.

Aizhan Bizhanova added that for the accelerated development of e-commerce in all Central Asian countries it is necessary to join efforts to build a comfortable ecosystem of paperless trade. The first step could be the development and adoption of an agreement of Central Asian countries on the development of e-commerce. e-commerce.

Other speakers of the forum were representatives of relevant ministries of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, as well as heads and experts from international organizations and leading domestic and multinational companies: the European Union, International Trade Center (ITC), USAID, Mastercard, PwC, KPMG, Glovo, MOST Ventures, Halyk Bank, Freedom Bank, Kazpost, ZOODPAY, QazTrade and others.

Central Asian Ecom Forum 2023 included 4 panel sessions, during which participants shared their views on a wide range of issues facing E-commerce in the Central Asian region: from industry development strategy and the use of fintech innovations to issues of continuous learning in the digital age and the development of a digital trade corridor between countries and regions.

During the forum, a ceremony of signing a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan was held. Within the framework of the memorandum, the parties intend to cooperate in the field of e-commerce, consideration of issues of development of trade in goods and services through digital means, study of the issue of consumer protection in e-commerce, study of government measures to support the development of electronic trading platforms, increase digital literacy of business entities.

The forum also saw the official launch of the School of e-commerce in Uzbekistan and the first ecom-incubator for students in Kazakhstan.

The e-commerce market in Central Asia has shown stable growth in recent years and has great prospects for the future. Therefore, cooperation between the countries of the region is of great importance for the development of e-commerce industry in Central Asia.