The volume of Kazakhstan's e-commerce market reached about $4 billion in 2022, accounting for 12% of the country's total retail turnover, announced the first Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Aizhan Bizhanova, QazMonitor reports.
On September 28, the Trade Ministry participated in the Central Asian E-commerce Forum in Almaty. During the event, Bizhanova outlined the ministry's plans to expand mutual trade with Uzbekistan to $10 billion, with the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to $2 billion. Our country also intends to increase turnover with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to $1 billion, with Turkiye to $10 billion, and with China to $40 billion.
Regarding trade with China, the Minister noted that cumulative sales of national pavilions on Alibaba have already exceeded $300 million.
"One of our primary focuses is the southern direction, providing access to the markets of South Asia and the Middle East, as well as access to the ports of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf," added Bizhanova.
By the end of this year, the ministry plans to establish an e-commerce school in Uzbekistan with support from Mastercard, aiming to boost IT exports. Bizhanova also proposed collaboration in creating a conducive paperless trade ecosystem to accelerate the development of e-commerce across all Central Asian countries.
The first step in this direction could be the development and signing of an agreement among Central Asian countries for the advancement of e-commerce. As the initiator, the Ministry of Trade and Integration is prepared to handle all organizational matters.
The ministry plans to sign a memorandum of cooperation on e-commerce with Tajikistan following the conclusion of the forum.
