The presentation of the e-commerce Program in Tajikistan for 2025-2029 with the participation of representatives of ministries and departments, as well as the private sector, took place on August 27 in Dushanbe, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the country reports.
The event was organized by the Ministry together with the Agency for Innovation and Digital Technologies under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan with the support of the International Trade Center.
The e-commerce program for 2025-2029 was adopted by the decree of the Government of the Republic on May 16 this year. The document is aimed at expanding electronic commerce, creating opportunities to reduce the costs associated with the organization of trade, simplify trade procedures, and conduct non-cash transactions in a short time.
It is expected that the Program will be implemented at the expense of the state budget, technical assistance from development partners, attracting foreign direct investment, private sector funds, as well as other sources.
The authors of the Program note that the Government of Tajikistan has identified the development of the digital economy in the country as a priority area, and therefore it is planned to adopt a number of strategic documents.
The National Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030 pays special attention to strengthening the national telecommunications infrastructure. On December 31, 2019, the Concept of the Digital Economy in the Republic of Tajikistan was adopted, which defines the following strategic directions:
– improvement of the regulatory framework and state policy in the field of the digital economy in general on the introduction of advanced technologies, improvement of entrepreneurial activity, development of the research environment and scientific achievements, innovations, national cybersecurity and ensuring consumer confidence in digital technologies;
– strengthening the digital technology base, including ensuring universal access to broadband Internet through infrastructure development and reducing Internet service charges;
– digitalization of the public sector (e-government) and economic sectors (energy, mining, agriculture).
The Program says that the e-commerce space is currently limited to sites offering lists of goods and products, bulletin boards, where only comparison of options is carried out online, payment and delivery of goods are carried out mainly without using the Internet.
It is noted that the most popular website in Tajikistan is Somon.tj, which is used by more than 600 thousand people per month. This site offers a wide list of different products. Due to the unfavorable conditions of cargo transportation services to/from the country, the sites of international trade portals have a limited share, while the sale of domestic goods and products through world trade portals is considered a priority issue in the development of foreign trade.
Meanwhile, according to experts, the basis for the development of electronic commerce is a cheap and high-quality Internet.
Tajikistan is among the countries with the highest cost of mobile Internet in the updated Worldwide mobile data pricing ranking, while it is among the 10 countries in the world with the lowest speed. The republic ranks 142nd in the world with an average price of $1.65 per 1 GB. For comparison: Kyrgyzstan is on the 8th place ($0.17), Uzbekistan is on the 22nd ($0.30), Kazakhstan is on the 35th ($0.41).
In the July Speedtest Global Index ranking, Tajikistan ranks 143rd in terms of mobile Internet speed, and 125th among 162 countries in terms of fixed broadband Internet speed. At the same time, Kazakhstan ranks 56th and 94th, respectively, Kyrgyzstan – 66th and 85th, Uzbekistan – 74th and 82nd places.
