KUALA LUMPUR (March 22): Alibaba Group is realising its Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) initiative with the launch of the first overseas e-hub outside China in Malaysia, to lower trade barriers and provide access to global markets for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It announced its partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) at the launch of the world's first Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) outside China here today. "Malaysia is a lot more business friendly than I thought," said Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma, who is also the national adviser to Malaysia's digital economy. Malaysia's e-commerce roadmap introduced in 2016 aims to double e-commerce growth and increase GDP contribution to RM211 billion by 2020. "I've heard (that) 97% of businesses in Malaysia are small businesses, but they contribute only 40% to GDP," Ma said, stressing that small businesses could contribute up to 80% of GDP, with the right support.

Source: The Edge Markets March 22, 2017 08:47 UTC