South Africa wants Alibaba to boost its digital economy

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02:28

Before heading back to South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa led a delegation of ministers and officials to visit China's tech giant Alibaba. He invited Alibaba's founder Jack Ma to help his country with its digital economic development.

President Ramaphosa says he would like to invite Ma to come to South Africa and help them set up a training center on e-commerce, this is becoming a presidential project because every one he talked to is very excited about setting up a training center for young people especially young women in Africa.

During the FOCAC summit, China and African countries set detailed guidelines for cooperation and development in the coming years. /CGTN Photo

Ma visited three African countries just last month. He says Africa is a land full of opportunities and hope. It's a new program created to support and fund African entrepreneurs working to further its digital economy.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, told CGTN that today Africa's infrastructure is not perfect, not good, but that is the opportunity. So this is what they believe because it is poor, there is a chance for you to jump in. They are confident in Africa, they think the entrepreneurs, the young people, all the things to do, they should start to do now.

South African president hopes Alibaba and other Chinese tech giants will seize the chance and boost their e-commerce growth. /CGTN Photo

During the FOCAC summit, China and African countries set detailed guidelines for cooperation and development in the coming years.

President Ramaphosa told CGTN that in this case, South Africa wants to sell more value-added products because China is such a good partner in this. They have welcomed this, and precisely what they say is they want to work with us, they want to enable all of us to win.

South Africa is one of the continent's most developed countries in terms of internet infrastructure.