E-commerce has surely and swiftly become one of the main mediums of trade in the 21st century. Most of the consumer market for regular products is dominated by e-commerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba globally. Traditional methods of international trade are being dominated by e-commerce as well, with many companies operating in wholesale trading by using e-commerce sites.
As such, the government’s plan to prepare a policy for cross-border e-commerce trading to boost exports of Bangladeshi products is not only commendable, but extremely timely.
Bangladesh has a burgeoning e-commerce market that has only been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, a lot of malpractices and outright scams also exist in the market, and due to the crackdown on a lot of high-profile e-commerce entities, the market is losing the steam it built up over the years. However, a lot of e-commerce entities have been prudent enough to expand their businesses outside the borders and have started selling their products outside of the country -- for which they deserve credit for having the foresight and knowhow.
But the fact still remains that the industry as a whole ran into problems because the government was slow to enact policies and regulations overseeing the industry in time. When it comes to cross-border trade especially, there is also the risk of hundi and other methods of money laundering.
As such, the recent planning of the government not only shows that they have learned their lesson, but they are also being pro-active in order to engage with the changing technologies of the 21st century.
But what is more important than the planning is the implementation. We unfortunately have a reputation for not implementing policy frameworks quickly enough, and they end up banning whole sections of businesses altogether along with coming up with other excuses. The e-commerce sector is too important for such a stumble and could well dictate the future of this country.
