Alibaba’s free trade hub in Thailand, backed by Jack Ma, begins trial operation after four years
- The free-trade zone, located in eastern Thailand, is expected to shorten the duration of cross-border e-commerce transactions by seven days
- The project is part of the electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), a multinational initiative proposed by Ma in 2016 at the Boao Forum for Asia
A free-trade-zone project in Thailand, launched in 2018 by Alibaba Group Holding while company founder Jack Ma was still chairman, has finally started trial operation.
The digital hub in the so-called Eastern Economic Corridor – a special economic zone made up of three provinces in eastern Thailand – is part of the electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), a multinational initiative backed by Ma to promote global trade.
The initiative is currently being featured by the Global Digital Trade Expo, a six-day trade fair that opened on Sunday in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province and home to Alibaba’s headquarters.
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
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The free-trade zone, which occupies an area of 40,000 square metres (430,000 square feet), has bonded warehouses that can stock imported commodities after entry declaration, according to a statement by eWTP on its official WeChat channel.
It is expected to allow Thai consumers to receive their e-commerce purchases from China in three days, down from the current 10 days.
