First e-commerce website opens in Iraq

Although there are very few items for sale so far, the website www.harej.com, which is named after the old market in Baghdad, hopes to become a business site for local and international clients. According to Reuters, its creator, IT expert Mehdi al-Ajwadi, is aware that the site "will take time to be used by the majority since only a small proportion of the population has internet access in a country destroyed by years of conflict".

For the moment, the website operates in Arabic and Kurdish and offers both new and second hand goods in various categories, including electronics, furniture or housing, although the most visited section is for cars.

"In the future, when credit cards become more common and their use is widespread, we'll charge a percentage of each transaction" he said to Reuters. Another of his long term projects is to develop a service to facilitate deliveries between buyers and sellers and to be able to expand outside of Iraq.

Source: Reuters