The World E-commerce Forum (WORLDEF) event held in the Turkish Mediterranean resort city of Antalya this week hosted more than 25,000 business-to-business meetings that are expected to generate a trade volume of $1.5 billion (TL 22.03 billion).

Bringing 1,500 participants from 35 countries together, the three-day e-commerce meeting was attended by foreign and domestic sector actors whose total share is around $150 billion in the global market.

The event, which started on March 29, was joined by companies from many sectors related to e-commerce, including delivery, digital marketing, technology, market places and service providers.

More than 50 Turkish and foreign sector professionals gave speeches at sessions during the event on topics such as entrepreneurship, new trends in retail trade, global market places and the metaverse.

The metaverse session was chaired by the famous Turkish actor Okan Bayulgen.

Ömer Nart, the head of WORLDEF, said the coronavirus pandemic created new opportunities for the e-commerce sector and the event was organized to benefit from the opportunities.

Nart said the first global meeting of WORLDEF will be organized in the United Kingdom this year with 300 companies and 1,000 participants.

Beginning on Oct. 25, the two-day event will enable Turkish companies to meet British and European players.

The U.K.'s e-commerce market has a volume of 700 billion pounds ($916.7 billion), he said. "We aim to raise Turkish e-commerce firms' share from this market."

The next meeting in Antalya in 2023 is expected to have 5,000 participants.