Alibaba Opens First National Office In Malaysia's Bangsar South

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) – Alibaba Group on Monday opened its first national office here in Bangsar South, Malaysia which will serve as a one-stop solution centre for local businesses to embark on the digital economy. The office is also Alibaba’s first establishment in the Southeast Asia and outside China. Alibaba Group Co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma said that the office opening signified the company's continuous endeavour to bolster Malaysia's small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) technology capability and push them further in the digital world. “This is Alibaba’s commitment. We want our Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) to start here, and we are committed to digitalising and empowering small businesses and let them to go global,” he said during the office launching here. Also present at the event were Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation Chief Executive Officer Yasmin Mahmood. The Alibaba office will also provide a helping hand for businesses to identify cross-border trade opportunities, as well as to support the country's technology innovation through cloud computing service. Ma also announced that Alibaba will launch "Malaysia Week", a special online promotion initiative to attract Chinese consumers for a week from July 6 to 12. The campaign will showcase more than 50 local brands with an array of "must see, must eat and must experience" Malaysian products and tourism. “Malaysia Week is the result of a fruitful discussion between Alibaba Group and Malaysia since the launch of eWTP last year,” he said. In November last year, Alibaba launched its first international eHub in Malaysia under the eWTP initiative, which emphasises on facilitating export for Malaysian SMEs and creating infrastructure to support global trade. It encompasses e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, mobile payment and talent training. Since the establishment, various initiatives have been taken by Alibaba Group to built inclusive and innovative global trade technology infrastructure including KLIA Aeropolis, Digital Free Trade Zone Park and Alibaba Cloud’s data centre. -- BERNAMA