Alibaba’s plan to loosen up world trade is ambitious, Jack Ma admits, as he looks for partners
Company will reach out to one or two countries to test how a new e-commerce platform spanning the globe might work
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba wants to start negotiations with one or two countries following the G20 summit in September about its plan to create a global e-commerce platform, which company founder and chief Jack Ma says can help knock down trade barriers.
Ma said he hoped global enterprises, including rival Amazon, would work together to create the new platform to connect smaller enterprises around the world.
“Amazon, we respect a lot. They are doing a lot of global trade. If we can work together, that will be fantastic, but I don’t know if they like my idea or not,” he said in Beijing on Saturday.
Chinese e-commerce sellers prefer Amazon for international access
Ma first raised the idea of an electronic world trade platform at the Boao Forum for Asia in March and has been lobbying enterprises and governments at other opportunities, including the B20, a summit bringing businessmen together from the G20 economies.
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
Ma said the company was setting up a group to study what rules should apply to the platform, including ones covering tariffs and logistics. The standards would be complicated, he predicted, given the involvement of many companies from different countries.
If we go to a country and the president says ‘it’s good and give us a proposal’, where is the proposal?
“If we go to a country and the president says ‘it’s good and give us a proposal’, where is the proposal? We are now forming an internal team to prepare for the proposal’s rules and laws,” he said.