Govt, Alibaba sign deal to help SMEs succeed in e-commerce

At the invitation of Alibaba, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak led a delegation comprising senior government officials and representatives of the private sector to Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, where Commerce Ministry permanent secretary Wiboonlasana Ruamraksathe Ruamraksa and Alibaba Group president Michael Evans signed the agreement.
The agreement covers four key areas, the first of which involves offering e-commerce training to 30,000 Thai SMEs to aid their access to both domestic and international e-commerce platforms. Alibaba and its majority-owned e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, Lazada Group, will help provide the training. 
They will also share their experience and expertise with the Thai government to help build Thailand’s own national e-commerce platform.
Second, Thailand and Alibaba will collaborate on the creation of a nationwide “People and Talent Development Programme”, which aims to train around 10,000 individuals so they can be proficient in digital technology. The two sides will also work together to nurture software developers who will be given access to the China market via Alibaba Cloud’s marketplace for their software applications. 
Furthermore, senior government officials will receive training at the Thailand Digital Government Academy, initially on big data and artificial-intelligence technologies. Alibaba and Lazada will jointly run a train-the-trainer programme to groom e-commerce business coordinators who will in turn help SMEs establish their own online export capabilities.
Third, Alibaba and Lazada will contribute to the development of the country’s supply-chain and logistics systems by sharing their experience and expertise with Thailand Post, in a bid to expand the coverage of domestic delivery services to all provinces across Thailand in 2017. 
Studies on Alibaba’s inventory-management systems and international e-commerce fulfilment services will also be undertaken by Thailand Post to gain insight into the establishment of bonded warehouses and fulfilment centres.
Last, Alibaba and the Thai government will explore cooperation opportunities under the Eastern Economic Corridor Development project and help establish Thailand as a hub of digital technology and regional data centres in Southeast Asia.
“This visit to Alibaba represents a continuation of the bilateral talks between the prime minister and [Alibaba Group executive chairman] Jack Ma,” Somkid said. 
“In order to strengthen the competitiveness of Thailand’s SMEs and help them succeed in an increasingly digital era, the prime minister earlier assigned responsibilities to a task force made up of government agencies and private enterprises to work with Alibaba in a joint effort to lift the export capabilities of Thai businesses, starting from the grass-roots and community level and extending to mid-tier businesses operating locally and SMEs hoping to engage in export trade. 
“The signing of the agreement between the Ministry of Commerce and Alibaba is in line with the government’s policy to drive Thailand forward under the ‘Thailand 4.0’ and ‘digital economy’ strategies, and marks a new chapter in our public-private partnership with world-class organisations and leading e-commerce platforms, as well as academic institutions in the future.
Ma said: “We are very honoured to have this opportunity to work with the Thai government. And I would like to thank the Thai people for their trust, because trust is the basis of any successful partnership.