The government of Uzbekistan on Thursday (February 9) launched an e-commerce strategy outlined in the roadmap for e-commerce sector development for 2023-2027. Reportedly, the strategy will support the digital economy over the next five years and identifies priority activities prone to producing an enabling e-commerce environment for companies, such as capacity and skills development for a successful digital transformation.
The e-commerce strategy was developed by the Ministry of Investments, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital technologies, the E-commerce Association, and other agencies, with the support of the International Trade Centre’s Ready4Trade Central Asia project, funded by the European Union (EU).
‘The development of an e-commerce strategy is a new endeavor much needed to provide the direction and roadmap for all the agencies and stakeholders involved. The Center for Digital Transformation which will take the responsibility to coordinate activities for strategy implementation will be closely working with the state agencies and the private sector. E-commerce offers enormous opportunities for businesses in Uzbekistan, and we want our companies to benefit fully from them’, Sherzod Sodikov, Director of Digital Transformation Center, Representative of the Ministry of Investments, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan said on Thursday.
‘Electronic commerce as an integral part of digitalization can be a powerful socio-economic development instrument. It can provide job opportunities, especially for youth, women, and people living outside of big cities, in rural areas, hence, contributing to solving contemporary social issues‘, Charlotte Adriaen, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Uzbekistan highlighted.
‘Purposeful implementation of the items of the strategy will significantly simplify the conduct of e-commerce and the involvement of a wide stratum of entrepreneurship in it. At the same time, the E-Commerce Association hopes that the working interdepartmental commission created to implement the strategy has a chance to become an effective platform for direct dialogue between the business community and the government of Uzbekistan’, Muzaffar Aizamov, Chairman of the E-Commerce Association said stressing that the adopted strategy reflect the key challenges of e-commerce.
‘Designing the strategy is the first step in the process. The impact can only be achieved through its implementation, and this requires the efforts of all, through continued public-private cooperation, continuous dialogue and effective coordination among development partners.’, Darius Kurek, Senior Officer at Export Strategy, International Trade Centre concluded.
It is expected that the new e-commerce strategy would assure Uzbek companies’ access to new markets with limited financial implications and enhance their ability to improve their business models, processes, and operations.
Comments (0)