Alibaba offers national pavilion for Bangladesh

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has shown interest in building a national pavilion for Bangladesh on the digital platform to help showcase the best domestic products to global buyers.

The move is aimed at increasing the trade volume of Bangladesh and scaling up the country’s small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. It would scale up Alibaba’s operations in Bangladesh as well.

Alibaba.com approached the Bangladesh embassy in China with a proposal in this regard in March last year.

In a recent letter to Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Ambassador of Bangladesh to China Md Jashim Uddin said Alibaba wants to do this to help Bangladeshi products reach a wider consumer base.

Alibaba has 20 million active buyers, the letter said.

Bangladesh’s e-commerce is growing very fast and has huge potential for both local and global investors. The e-commerce market size was Tk 22,000 crore in FY22, according to the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB). The market sees a 25 per cent annual growth on average.

The country has also witnessed rapid growth in e-commerce transactions, with the amount reaching Tk 16,000 crore at the end of 2021, according to e-CAB, which predicts the market size will reach Tk 30,000 crore at the end of 2030.

Bangladeshi officials say they will discuss the Alibaba proposal with stakeholders to engage with the platform meaningfully.

Tapan told The Business Post they had received the ambassador’s letter and would now discuss with the relevant stakeholders, including the foreign ministry, the Bangladesh Bank, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), e-CAB, SME Foundation, and Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).

“We will make a decision based on their opinions,” he said.

The commerce ministry’s Additional Secretary (Central Digital Commerce Cell) Md Hafizur Rahman said Alibaba would provide some facilities free of charge but Bangladesh has to pay for availing others.

Hailing the proposal, he said Bangladesh has to bear the partial costs – around $5,000-7,000 a year – to promote its products on the Alibaba pavilion.

The Bangladeshi envoy to China said in the letter Alibaba had shared its experience of working with other countries, which would be useful for Bangladesh to make a decision to work with the company.

“Besides, our Commercial Counsellor Monsour Uddin held a couple of meetings with his counterpart at the Italian embassy in Beijing, which was followed by a meeting with the trade commissioner at the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), a government agency of Italy for global trade promotion,” he said.

“During the meeting, it was revealed the ITA is playing a proactive role in facilitating connectivity between Alibaba and Italian entrepreneurs.”

Terming the proposal good for Bangladesh, particularly for SMEs, the ambassador said Bangladesh is not new for Alibaba, which has worked with Bangladeshi companies for the last two decades.

He said the number of Bangladeshi companies doing business with Alibaba had reached 166 over the years. The ambassador came to know that the company’s operations in other South Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, had grown substantially as it works with 3,000 firms.

The letter said Alibaba also expects “motivational subsidy” as supporting budget for online marketing. This could be between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of the total supporting budget for online marketing.

While the amount for the Bangladesh proposal has not been worked out yet, it seems this contribution from the country’s side is one of the major roles expected by Alibaba, the letter added.