At the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov the issues of further development of e-commerce were considered.

Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliev noted that e-commerce has become one of the new drivers of global economic growth. In Kazakhstan by the end of 2022, its volume reached about 2 trillion tenge or 12.5% of the total retail volume. At the same time, for 11 months of last year, this figure increased to 2.2 trillion tenge, increasing its share to 13%. 

Kazakhstani people mainly buy household goods, clothes and shoes, food, cosmetics and medicines via the Internet.

At the same time, the Ministry has a task to bring the share of e-commerce to 20% by 2030. As part of this work, measures will be taken to expand the representation of domestic goods on popular marketplaces, the development of warehousing and logistics infrastructure, as well as the protection of consumer rights.

In the course of the meeting the opinions of representatives of the e-commerce market were also heard. Thus, the Chairman of the Board of the postal operator Asel Zhanasova told about the activities of Kazpost JSC, and its director Alua Korpebaeva told about the experience of the domestic online store.

As the Prime Minister noted, the e-commerce market is steadily expanding worldwide. It is expected that by 2025 the share of global online commerce will exceed 25% of total retail.

According to him, the catalyst for this growth has been the change in business processes of online and offline stores, new formats of product placement and advertising. This attracts customers and saves their time.

In Kazakhstan in 2023, the volume of e-commerce exceeded 2.2 trillion tenge and amounted to 13% of all retail trade. A significant share of the market at the same time is occupied by foreign online marketplaces.

"We should use this opportunity as an additional sales channel for Kazakhstani products in the global market. At the same time, we need to develop domestic online stores as well. To do this, we need to ensure the smooth operation of payment systems, transportation and logistics infrastructure and courier services," Alikhan Smailov pointed out.

He noted that no less important issue is the protection of consumer rights. For its solution the necessary amendments were developed, which were included in the draft law "On Protection of Consumer Rights". This document is already under consideration of the Parliament.

According to the head of the Government, it is also required to increase digital literacy of both the population and business. 

"This will be partly facilitated by e-commerce training centers, which should be opened throughout the country," he stressed.

Summarizing the results, the Prime Minister instructed to work out effective solutions for the development of domestic online stores and the introduction of goods producers of the republic to foreign online platforms within a month.

"We need our bonded warehouses, which would simplify the process of delivery of goods to both our buyers and foreign buyers. Therefore, the Ministry of Trade together with Kazpost should ensure the launch of construction of bonded warehouses in Astana, Almaty and Shymkent this year," Alikhan Smailov said. 

In addition, the head of the Government outlined the need to start creating a container hub in Aktau and a full-fledged logistics center for electronic commerce in the port of Kuryk by the end of March. 

"This is also important within the framework of the development of the Trans-Caspian international transportation route," he concluded.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Digitalization #Government session #Logistics #Trade