China, Malaysia to open ‘digital gateway’ for small businesses to go global, says Alibaba

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s ambitious goal to expedite global trade for small businesses has taken a major step forward, with a pact to connect the so-called e-hubs in Malaysia and China under the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) initiated by company founder Jack Ma Yun.

The agreement with Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), the institution responsible for that country’s digital development initiatives, and the municipal government of Hangzhou, where Alibaba is headquartered, “has opened up a gateway to global success for small businesses in the two countries”, Ma said in a joint announcement on Friday.

“With the creation of eWTP, we and partners will build the infrastructure to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and young entrepreneurs to succeed in this era of data technology,” he said.

The pact signed by the three parties in Hangzhou on Friday aims to connect the China (Hangzhou) Comprehensive E-Commerce Pilot Zone – the mainland’s first e-hub, which Alibaba helped establish – with Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone, in which Alibaba and the MDEC set up a pilot implementation for an e-hub in March this year.

These e-hubs would enable small businesses in one country to sell to consumers in another, with low or no import duties, speedy customs clearance, and better access to logistics, according to Alibaba.

When the e-hubs are connected, they would form part of a global network that becomes the eWTP.

The eWTP initiative was proposed by Alibaba executive chairman Ma last year, and was accepted as a major policy recommendation by the Business 20, an international forum through which the private sector submits proposals for the annual meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) leaders.

Formed in 1999, the G20 is a forum for the governments and central bank governors of the world’s leading economies, which comprise 19 individual countries and the European Union.