Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba and the chairman of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development for the G20 business summit, said he will submit the proposal of creating an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) to G20 members for consideration.

 

It was 1972 when the U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China and Hangzhou made its international debut. Ma believes the G20 summit will provide the second such global opportunity for Hangzhou. Thanks to the summit, Hangzhou will become a much more internationalized city, Ma said.

 

As he proposed in March 2016 at the Boao Forum for Asia, Ma introduced the idea of an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) to share the benefits of globalization with SMEs worlwide. This international platform is intended to provide free, open and fair trade.

 

In six months, Ma traveled to over 30 countries and regions for negotiations regarding customs clearance and tax preferences. His trip was intended to earn the support of SMEs around the world through the implementation of eWTP.

 

The eWTP proposal will be submitted to G20 members for consideration. Ma said he hopes that G20 members can provide business visas for entrepreneurs in order to facilitate importation and exportation. However， even if eWTP is supported and approved by G20， Ma believes the most important step comes next: operation.

 

Alibaba expects to be an advocate and pioneer of eWTP， Ma promised.