Ever since the news about Alibaba Group setting foot in Pakistan came about, there are rumors and predictions on the actions being taken by the local e-commerce industry and the government to promote the same.
With some e-commerce companies on their toes wishing to get acquired, and others silently watching as to how the entry of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group could affect their business, we must say that this is a very exciting time for the local industry.
In a unique partnership, Alibaba Group Holdings has entered into an agreement with Pakistan, to promote our exports by Small and Medium Enterprises through e-commerce.
Read: Work in Progress: National Ecommerce Policy
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Alibaba Group’s Executive Chairman, Jack Ma attended the signing ceremony.
Lauding the effort of the e-commerce giant, PM Nawaz said:
“I am glad my meeting with Jack Ma at the World Economic Forum in January has come to fruition in the shape of the MoU we have just signed. My appreciation of Ma’s dynamism and performance of [the Alibaba] group comes not only from its success as a e-commerce giant but more so from the focus of the group on job creation and livelihood generation. Indeed, the Alibaba group is a business with strong humanistic dimension. These are the values that are the pivot of the policies my government has pursued with determination and commitment since taking office in 2013.”
Commenting on the industry, prime minister said:
“E-commerce is a powerful tool to stimulate economic activity, effort, innovation and entrepreneurship across all sectors of the economy”
The agreement between Alibaba and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) was signed by Commerce Minister KhurramDastgir and Michael Evans, President of Alibaba Group, and Douglas Feagin, Senior Vice President of Global Business of Ant Financial, on behalf of Alibaba, during the visit of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to the headquarters of the company.
Under this partnership, the three parties; Alibaba, Ant Financial, and TDAP agree to foster growth of worldwide exports of products by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan through e-commerce.
Alibaba Group will also be conducting online and offline training programs for SMEs and assist SMEs with the onboarding to Alibaba’s platforms and optimizing exports through e-commerce.
As one of the partners on board, TDAP will be identifying suitable SMEs to participate in the training programs, where Alibabashall be responsible for providing industry analysis to TDAP to assist them in their selection process.
Additionally, the three parties have agreed to collaborate to further improve financial services in Pakistan. The parties have also agreed to adopt cloud computing services to support the online and mobile e-commerce businesses of SMEs in Pakistan.
Source: Dawn News
