Ma set to visit Thailand in April to announce Alibaba’s EEC investment plan: Uttama

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, will visit Thailand next month to announce the company’s investment plan in connection with the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) initiative, Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana said on Sunday.

 

The planned visit has been confirmed by Ma’s team, he added.

 

Uttama said Ma would use the visit to officially announce his company’s readiness for the Smart Digital Hub CLMVT to be built in the EEC. 

 

Alibaba aims to use Thailand as its logistics centre to support the group’s e-commerce in the region.

 

The company has asked the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to find space to build a warehouse for the distribution centre, and it wants a location close to the nearest airport in the EEC investment area, the minister explained. 

 

Uttama said there were four planned areas of collaboration between Alibaba and Thailand: promoting digital usage for smart small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); supporting farmers to become e-commerce operators; promoting the use of technology and digital to help the development of start-ups; and promoting tourism in the Kingdom.

 

Deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak said early this month that Ma was due to meet Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha during his visit to Bangkok in April.

 

Somkid at that time met with the head of Alibaba’s globalisation leadership group, Angel Zhao Ying, in Thailand as part of an arrangement for continued meetings with the group on its prospective investments in Thailand, after an earlier high-profile visit by its founder. 

 

In October 2016, Ma met with Prayut after attending the “2nd Asia Coordination Dialogue” in Bangkok. 

 

The premier asked Ma to share his experienc

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30341806

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-03-27

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Alibaba aims to use Thailand as its logistics centre to support the group’s e-commerce in the region.

thailand benefits due to the sorry state of it's neighbors

Alibaba set to visit the 40 thieves. Just like in the fairytale.

30 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

thailand benefits due to the sorry state of it's neighbors

How true. It's the best choice from those available.

 

There seems to be a surge in interest amongst my colleagues in Shopee.com and 11Street , as they perceive Lazada (Alibaba) as putting Chinese traders before local ones. If you are a regular user of Lazada you will understand this as there has been a jump in the number of Chinese based sellers.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

promoting digital usage for smart small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); supporting farmers to become e-commerce operators; promoting the use of technology and digital to help the development of start-ups; and promoting tourism in the Kingdom.

Thai companies could just as well provide investments for these areas. But where are they?

Where is even the Prayut government in terms of investing in the EEC?

Instead we have Japanese and Chinese companies investing in the EEC. The EEC will become essentially extensions of those countries economic policies.