China’s Alibaba creates first overseas “e-hub”

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E-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday announced a plan to set up an e-commerce hub in Malaysia that the company said would help lower trade barriers and provide more access to global markets for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and young people around the world.

CGTN Photo

The hub – involving a platform for these small players to share information on local policies, tax information, custom clearance and other areas of best practice in e-commerce – is a partnership between Alibaba and the Malaysian government and forms part of an “Electronic World Trade Platform” (eWTP) proposed by the former’s executive chairman Jack Ma in 2016.

Ma and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak attended the launch ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

CGTN Photo

Daniel Zhang, chief executive of Alibaba Group, said afterwards that Malaysia was chosen as Alibaba's regional logistics hub for its location as well as the fact that the two sides share the same vision.

Nobody from Alibaba gave any indication how much the company would invest in Malaysia, however.

Why does the eWTP matter?

Included in the G20 Leaders Communique issued after the Hangzhou meeting last year, the platform will aim to promote easier access to world markets for SMEs and young people.

According to Ma, the Malaysia project has the potential to link markets around the world.

As other e-hubs are added to trade routes, the hope is that superhighways for e-commerce will be created.

For example Alibaba has already created the China (Hangzhou) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Free Trade Area in Hangzhou.

China and Malaysia also agreed to build e-commerce infrastructure near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, increase cooperation in electronic payments and financing, and create training programs for e-commerce.

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