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“Development of e-commerce will affect the whole business of Uzbekistan” - Deputy Director of the National Agency of Perspective Projects of Uzbekistan Davron Maksudov

The panel session “Investment in e-commerce: market trends and prospects” was held as part of the Tashkent International Investment Forum. As the digital economy expands, Uzbekistan presents a unique environment ripe for investment and growth of online business platforms. This panel brought together industry experts and authorities to discuss the current state of e-commerce. E-commerce is a trendy phenomenon that has become an integral part of the global economy over the past 10 years. For Uzbekistan, this is a young sphere, although the first law on e-commerce was adopted back in 2004. Since then, the law has been updated in 2015 and 2022. Today, more than 50 marketplaces in E-commerce are registered in Uzbekistan. with an annual turnover of 300 million USD. We expect that by 2027 their turnover will reach 1 billion USD. I would also note that today 57 companies are registered, such as Meta (facebook), Google, Apple, Booking.com, Zoom, which over the past year paid taxes amounting to 70 billion soums,” - Deputy Director of the National Agency for Prospective Projects of Uzbekistan Davron Maksudov . The participants of the session got an insight into market dynamics, consumer behavior, regulatory framework and investment opportunities in the e-commerce sector of Uzbekistan. Nikolay Seleznev, Head of strategy and business development Uzum, also noted that Uzbekistan has made a great leap from traditional bazaars to marketplaces in the last couple of years. The volume of e-commerce market in 2021 in Uzbekistan amounted to 201 million US dollars, already in 2023 the figure of 543 million USD is fixed. Growth is also noted in retail $11, 273 million in 2021 vs. and $15,187 in 2023 “Note the transformation of the sphere over the last few years. I believe Uzum has paved the way for many companies to achieve unicorn status (a technology company with a valuation of over $1 billion),” added Seleznev.