Alibaba inks MoU with MDEC, Hangzhou Municipal Government to facilitate global trade for SMEs under eWTP

• MoU will enable the building of infrastructure for seamless cross-border e-commerce trade
• Planned cloud infrastructure set to support global expansion for Malaysia’s SMEs

ALIBABA Group Holding Limited announced recently the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and the Hangzhou Municipal Government to connect the first e-hubs in the two countries under the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), taking Alibaba Group’s vision of facilitating global trade for SMEs around the world one step closer to reality.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Secretary of Communist Party of China’s Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Che Jun, and Alibaba Group’s executive chairman Jack Ma, witnessed the signing of the MoU that aims to connect China (Hangzhou) Comprehensive E-Commerce Pilot Zone with Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ).

The MoU seeks to enable the building of infrastructure for seamless cross-border e-commerce trade between Malaysia and China. The three parties agree to work together to explore potential strategic collaborations, consistent with Alibaba’s vision of eWTP.

Under the MoU, the parties will join forces to explore linkages between the China (Hangzhou) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone – the first domestic e-hub, which Alibaba Group played a key role in establishing – and the DFTZ in Malaysia, established by Alibaba and MDEC in March this year, as pilot implementation towards building an e-road for global trade.

By leveraging on Alibaba’s internet and data technologies, the parties will facilitate cooperation between public and private enterprises in Hangzhou and Malaysia to provide easier access to customs clearance, inspection and permit issuance for SMEs to do cross-border trade.

“Fostering closer partnership with China is imperative to sustaining our economic growth, and e-business and commerce is clearly the future of global trade. It is therefore exciting to witness the forming of a partnership between government and reputable private enterprises, who will work together to lay the foundation for a more efficient conduct of cross-border trade in the Internet age, to the benefit of all,” says Najib.

“E-commerce is becoming increasingly globalised and it is transforming the way commerce is conducted. With the creation of eWTP, we and partners will build the infrastructure to empower SMEs and young entrepreneurs to succeed in this era of data technology. Today's announcement has opened up a gateway to global success for small businesses in the two countries. It is our hope that more and more countries and SMEs around the world will benefit from a more level playing field,” says Ma.

Alibaba Cloud to establish Malaysia data centre

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group will establish a data centre in Malaysia later this year to provide enterprises in Malaysia and the region with powerful, scalable and cost-effective cloud capabilities to support their global expansion. The data centre will become the first global public cloud platform in the country.

The data centre will add to Alibaba Cloud’s data centres in 14 locations worldwide, covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US (East and West Coast). It will empower local entrepreneurs of various industries and scales to migrate their IT infrastructure to a powerful, reliable and secure platform.

Simon Hu, senior vice president of Alibaba Group and president of Alibaba Cloud said: “Alibaba Cloud is helping to realise the eWTP vision by establishing cloud infrastructure to facilitate seamless cross-border online businesses for Malaysian enterprises.

“We look forward to laying the digital foundation for Malaysia in the new global economy, equipping the country with future-proof online marketplaces, as well as payment, logistics, cloud computing and big data services that work seamlessly in the ecosystem. By doing so, we can support businesses of all sizes to realize their full economic potential and access the global market for their goods and services.”

Cloud computing and big data analytics will play a crucial role as the computing infrastructure of eWTP, offering SMEs support and helping to transform Malaysia into a digital economy.

In March this year, Alibaba Group established the first overseas e-hub under eWTP with MDEC. Alibaba Cloud has made significant progress since. In addition to the planned data centre, it has been granted MSC status to participate in the Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor initiatives and has conducted training for industry players in collaboration with MDEC.

Alibaba Cloud will also build a cloud platform in Malaysia to help local SMEs to succeed in the digital age through technology such as big data and Internet of Things (IoT). In order to provide support for startups, Alibaba Cloud will provide the Alibaba Cloud Certified Professional (ACP) certification programme to train local technology talent and support the internet-related ecosystem in Malaysia. 

Related stories:

Alibaba.com partners with J&T to aid SMEs

MDEC introduces Malaysia Digital Hub and MTEP

Globalisation is the future, says Jack Ma

Digital Free Trade Zone must stay true to its raison d'être

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