Alibaba (BABA) Sees Robust Growth Opportunities in Middle East

Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) sees big opportunity in the Middle East over the next few years as growth and world events bring the region back into focus.

Speaking at the Middle East and North Africa e-Commerce Conference on Wednesday, Alibaba SVP Sophie Wu commented that the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and WorldExpo in 2020 will be two key events that Alibaba hopes to benefit from, according to China's Xinhua.

Wu believes the number of e-commerce users will double due to the two upcoming events.

The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar, while the WorldExpo 2020 will take place in Dubai

Wu commented, Through our e-commerce platforms, local Arab traders can reach out to the Chinese market and to the world as Alibaba.com is China's largest global online wholesale marketplace by revenue, having in store thousands of products in over 40 industries with registered users in 240 countries.

With 2.6 million users, the Middle East is one of the top growing regions for Alibaba.com, Wu added.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based consultancy firm Frost and Sullivan sees e-commerce sales in the region growing from $2.5 billion in 2014 up to $10 billion by 2018.

About 12,000 Dubai Chamber of Commerce member firms have upgraded to e-commerce since May 2012. The move gives the member firm access to the Mandarin online website 1688.com, which is owned by Alibaba.

Shares of Alibaba are down 0.5 percent.

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