Alibaba founder expresses interest in Pakistan's e-commerce sector

Published January 18, 2017
Chairman Alibaba Group Jack Ma met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. —Nafees Zakaria/Twitter
Chairman Alibaba Group Jack Ma met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. —Nafees Zakaria/Twitter

Chairman Alibaba Group Jack Ma met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday and expressed his interest in investing in Pakistan's e-commerce sector, reported the state-run Pakistan Television.

"We are ready to invest for establishing an e-commerce platform in Pakistan," said Ma while meeting the premier on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Ma added that his company was closely monitoring progress of Pakistan's e-commerce sector.

Alibaba's founder said he wants to support small scale industries in developing countries and informed Nawaz that the Alibaba Group has been facilitating 60 million companies across the globe.

Referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it would provide opportunities for promotion of the bilateral economic ties between China and Pakistan.

During the meeting, he also invited the prime minister to visit his company headquarters in Guangzhou.

Nawaz on the occasion praised the services of Ma's group for the e-commerce sector and also invited him to visit Pakistan.

Alibaba is China’s dominant player in online commerce, with its Taobao platform estimated to hold more than 90 per cent of the consumer-to-consumer market, and its Tmall platform is believed to have over half of business-to-consumer transactions.

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