Alibaba wants B20 summit to promote eWTP

Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group, addresses reporters at the company headquarter in Hangzhou on September 2. (Photo: People's Daily Online/Wu Nan)

Online retail giant Alibaba Group reiterated the company’s desire for the B20 Hangzhou summit that opened on Saturday to support and promote company head Jack Ma’s proposal on the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) and to support small-to-medium sized businesses across the world.

The eWTP will be a formal topic at this year’s B20 for trade ministers and officials from all over the world, as Ma has submitted the proposal for discussion, according to Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of Alibaba.

“What we hope to get out of these meetings is for people to recognize the importance of small business and the benefit free trade can bring to the world’s consumers. We hope Alibaba can play a role,” said Tsai, addressing a group of some 50 reporters visiting the company headquarters in Hangzhou, China.

The idea of eWTP was introduced by Ma in March 2016 at the Boao Forum for Asia.

Quoting Ma, Tsai stressed the company’s desire to get official support for eWTP, but also acknowledged the crucial role for private industry.

“The purpose of discussing eWTP at B20 is so that business leaders around the world can understand that this represents an opportunity not just for them but for all small-to-medium sized businesses in their countries. We need to build a coalition of corporate support for something which is really corporate,” Michael Evans, President of Alibaba, told reporters.

Evans has followed Ma on Alibaba’s world trips to over 30 countries for negotiations on customs clearances and tax preferences, during which time Ma has been educating leaders and businesses on the opportunities and challenges of eWTP.

According to Evans, pilot projects on eWTP have been set up in some countries and will serve as examples for future projects, and there are several more countries willing to take part in the experiment.