Alibaba, Pakistan ink MOU on digital Silk Road

China's Alibaba on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan for the development of small and medium-sized Pakistani businesses via e-commerce.

China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group signs a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan at the headquarter of Alibaba in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province on Tuesday, May 16, 2017. [Photo: wshang.com]

The MOU was signed by Alibaba, Ant Financial (one of Alibaba's subsidiaries), and the Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan. It is expected to help small and medium-sized businesses in Pakistan to globalize via e-commerce.

"Alibaba would like to share its experience in e-commerce and Internet finance with Pakistan to build a digital Silk Road so that Pakistani commodities can be sold to China and the world," said Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

The MOU was concluded as Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Alibaba on Tuesday.

Pakistani businesses joined Alibaba in 1999 when the e-commerce platform was launched, and there are currently tens of thousands of Pakistani suppliers on the B2B platform of Alibaba.