E-commerce in Tajikistan poised for growth

Tajikistan is making every effort to promote e-commerce in the country’s socio-economic sector. On December 24, 2022, Tajikistan adopted the Law “On Electronic Commerce”, which aims to protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens and organizations engaged in e-commerce and ensure the free operation of e-commerce in the country, News.Az reports cite News Central Asia.

An important milestone was the conference on increasing global access through e-commerce (E-GATE) in Tajikistan, which took place in Dushanbe on March 1-3, 2024.

It was organized by the World Bank and IFC – the private arm of the World Bank Group – with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT); and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

On March 1, Dushanbe hosted the “Raising Global Access through E-Commerce (E-GATE)” conference organized by the World Bank and IFC. For the first time in Tajikistan, its aim was to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and resources between small and medium-sized enterprises in the country, as well as with regional and global players in the e-commerce ecosystem.

“Recognizing the critical role of e-commerce in modern economies, the World Bank is actively supporting Tajikistan in its efforts to develop appropriate platforms, including E-GATE,” said Ozan Sevimli, World Bank Country Director for Tajikistan. “The E-GATE program offers Tajiks and small medium-sized enterprises an extremely valuable membership in global B2B e-commerce platforms, enabling access to markets not available offline and providing technical support to the government in developing legislative proposals, as well as imparting global knowledge to Tajik e-tailers through activities in terms of capacity building.”

The conference brought together e-commerce stakeholders from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as global e-commerce giants including Amazon and Alibaba.

In landlocked Tajikistan, as across Central Asia, the emergence of e-commerce is proving to be a powerful tool for reaching global markets for locally produced products, modernizing traditional supply chains and supporting growth in employment opportunities.

According to ECDB, a specialized e-commerce data analytics company ( https://ecommercedb.com/markets/tj/all ), Tajikistan is currently one of the smaller e-commerce markets. The projected revenues for 2024 will amount to USD 17.1 million, but after their development they are expected to grow by 5.4% annually, which will translate into a projected market size of USD 21.1 million by 2028.

The founder of the Russian e-commerce platform Wildberries, Tatyana Bakalchuk, mentioned in an interview with RIA Novosti that the company plans to enter the markets of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

“We know we need to increase the geographic area in which we operate to maintain (our) growth rate. First, we study neighboring countries. We are already present in all countries that make up the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union). We are now heading to the CIS countries (Commonwealth of Independent States); for example, we will enter the market of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan,” Bakalchuk said.

Moreover, RIA quoted Bakalchuk, who stated that the organization is currently trying to create a logistics network in Azerbaijan. “We are interested in both the Persian Gulf countries and the United Arab Emirates market. For example, representatives from the Middle East participated in the “Russia – Islamic World” forum in May and many of them showed interest in our work. Therefore, we will carefully consider the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf countries in this regard. We have already started negotiations with several countries.”

Wildberries currently operates in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The company is an international online store selling clothing, footwear, electronics, home furnishings and other items in thousands of categories. According to Statista data, in April 2023 it was the ninth most visited e-commerce portal in the world. The company was founded in Russia in 2004 by the married couple Władysław and Tatiana Bakalchuk.

News.Az