Just a couple of days ago the Alibaba Group Holding Limited announced that they were able to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Hangzhou Municipal Government and MDEC (Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation) on connecting their ecommerce hubs from two different countries.
They agreed on doing this via eWTP (Electronic World Trade Platform) which now allows Alibaba to achieve their vision of creating an SME network for global trade. The group had set things in motion a couple of years back and this move has made them a step closer towards achieving this goal.
The signing of this memorandum was witnessed by many important officials including Jack Ma, the executive chairman of Alibaba group, Che Jun, China’s communist party secretary, and Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malasya. At an official ceremony, these officials and many other important people witnessed the efforts to connect the Digital Free Zone of Malaysia and China’s ecommerce pilot zone.
This memorandum of understanding is expected to be the document that will allow the construction of infrastructure that will allow unobstructed ecommerce trade between China and Malaysia. All of the three parties have reached a mutual agreement on working as a team to find more options for strategic collaboration, while being consistent with the group’s vision for the eWTP.
The conditions of the memorandum state that all of the parties involved will have to join forces and work together on finding out links between the Hangzhou’s cross-border ecommerce zone, which is the first Chinese e-hub, that was established by Alibaba group – and Malaysia’s DFTZ, which was also established by MDEC and Alibaba during March of 2017. This zone was a pilot implementation which is supposed to be a gateway towards creating a road for a global e-trade.
During the announcement Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia stated that creating a close partnership with China and its big companies was essential for ensuring future economic growth while adding that it’s his personal opinion that ecommerce and e-business are the future of global economy and trade.
He also added that this is an exciting moment, as the two countries are witnessing a new form of partnership, where both a reputable enterprise and a government will work together on creating a foundation for more efficient trade between two countries that will, fueled by the internet, create massive results worldwide.
By utilizing the data and internet technologies of Alibaba, all of the parties involved will be able to create an effective cooperation between private businesses and public organizations in both Malaysia and Hangzhou, as this will provide easier permit issuing, customs clearance, and inspection for all SMEs that trade between the border.
During the announcement the chief executive of Alibaba group, Jack Ma, stated that ecommerce is now a global thing and that it has changed the whole commerce game. He stated that Alibaba and their partners are committed towards creating a functional infrastructure that will be able to help young entrepreneurs and SMEs succeed and do good business in this era of internet technology.
He said that this agreement is a gateway to future global success for smaller business organizations in both countries. Jack Ma added that he sincerely hopes that other SMEs and countries across the globe will be able to benefit from this widening of the playing field.
During the signing of the memorandum it was stated that Alibaba Cloud, which is a cloud computing hub of Alibaba, will set up a new data centre in Malaysia at the end of the year to empower all the enterprises located in that country and the region with scalable, effective, and powerful cloud capabilities that will be able to support the whole global expansion. This data centre will be the first public cloud platform that operates globally in Malaysia.
When this cloud data centre is finished, it will be the 14th data centre Alibaba has built worldwide, including China’s mainland, Japan, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the East and West Coast of the US and the Middle East. This centre will help local industries and entrepreneurs operate their IT from a secure, reliable and powerful platform.
Alibaba cloud president and senior vice president of the group, Simon Hu, stated that Alibaba Cloud will work hard on the realization of eWTP goal by providing a reliable cloud infrastructure that will be able to handle all online trades and transactions between the two countries. Hu said that Alibaba Cloud is looking to create a foundation for all digital incentives in Malaysia and create it’s own place in the newly formed global trading economy.
Malaysia will be equipped with valuable online marketplaces, logistics, payment options, big data operations that all perform seamlessly. With all of these valuable tools, all business organizations within these two regions, no matter the size, will be able to reach their full potential and enter the global market with the services and products that they offer.
Big data and cloud systems will be the two most important factors in creating a strong IT infrastructure for eWTP and giving support to SMEs and this is how the whole country of Malaysia will turn into an economy that focuses on digital business.
During March, Alibaba set up their first overseas electronic hub with MDEC using eWTP. Since then, Alibaba Cloud has made a lot of progress. Apart from the data centre that they planned to build, Alibaba Cloud has also received the MSC (Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor) status, which allows them to be involved in Malaysia MSC initiatives while conducting various types of training for the important players in the industry.
On top of everything, Alibaba CLoud will also work on creating a cloud platform that will help the local SMEs in Malaysia make good results in digital business through the internet of things, and big data technology. Alibaba Cloud will also offer their ACP (Alibaba Cloud Certified Professional) program in order to support the digital ecosystem and train local businesses in internet technology.