E-commerce Find Its Place in Central Asia
Over 900 trade deals valued at more than $126 million have been facilitated through a trade portal, started by a UASID project in 2002. The portal www.smetradecenter.net was launched through the USAID Enterprise Development Project to promote Central Asian regional trade by helping identify new markets for businesses. The project has provided off-line trade consulting services to enhance commercial linkages both within Central Asian countries and internationally. The trade portal provides an online forum where enterprises or trade specialists acting on their behalf can post offers to buy and sell products and services. These offers can be viewed by website visitors, and buyers and sellers are able to contact each other for negotiations.
As of November 2006, the website had over 5,000 registered users, an average of 109 trade leads posted per month, and over 182,000 visitors from 120 countries accessing the website monthly. When the USAID Enterprise Development Project ended in late 2006, USAID announced a tender to transfer the trade portal to a private entity; since April, the trade portal has been operated by Kyrgyz IT company iTeg.
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Victoria Timaeva and Alexander Zadorozhny of iTeg Company hope to double the current 3,000-5,000 website visits by early 2008
Photo Credit: iTEg |
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