Alibaba launches Malaysian hub for electronic world trade platform – and plans a ‘new Silk Road’
‘We should transfer the Silk Road to an e-road,’ says Jack Ma, as he launches logistics centre in Kuala Lumpur that clears bureaucratic hurdles to cross-border trade
China’s Alibaba Group is to set up a trading and logistics hub in Malaysia as part of its efforts to establish an electronic world trade platform that it hopes will help create a modern version of the ancient Silk Road trade route.
The Malaysian “e-hub” will comprise a regional logistics centre near Kuala Lumpur International Airport and an accompanying electronic platform that will enable its users – primarily small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to conduct cross-border trade without cumbersome bureaucratic hurdles.
Alibaba said the Malaysian project – set up in collaboration with the Malaysia Digital Economy Cooperation (MDEC) agency – was the first of its kind outside the e-commerce giant’s home base in Hangzhou ( 杭州 ).
The hub, to be developed by the end of 2019, would “function as a centralised customs clearance, warehousing, and fulfilment facility for Malaysia and the region, to deliver faster clearance for imports and exports,” said Alibaba, the owner of the South China Morning Post. The company did not provide details on the value of its investment in the project.
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Speaking at the project’s launch in Kuala Lumpur, Alibaba’s executive chairman Jack Ma said the platform would help small businesses and emerging countries benefit from a modern version of the Silk Road – the ancient network of trade routes that for centuries stretched from Japan to the Mediterranean.
