Alibaba has long been a partner of British businesses, including a collaboration on intellectual property in Sept. 2014. (Photo : www.britishchamber.cn)
Businesses based in the U.K. will be getting the assistance of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to help them operate and sell products on Alibaba’s B2B e-marketplace platform, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with U.K. Trade and Investment (UKTI) on Friday, Oct. 23, the China Daily reported.
The report said that the MOU would enable British companies to join the 1688.com trading platform, a Chinese wholesale e-marketplace which helps Chinese retailers, wholesalers and distributors find overseas suppliers, including those from Britain.
Alibaba said that the platform will help British companies reach more than 100 million Chinese businesses, nearly twice the British population.
"We are delighted to be working with Alibaba as part of UKTI's E-Exporting Program, dedicated to accelerating British exports via online channels," UKTI Chief Executive Catherine Raines was quoted as saying in a press release from Alibaba.
"This agreement is also another positive step toward the British government's export drive, helping 100,000 more British companies to export their goods and services overseas by 2020," Raines added.
UKTI is a department of the British government working with a number of global e-marketplaces and helping British retailers and brands to sell through e-marketplaces and help them succeed in the global economy.
"Alibaba is a gateway for international businesses and brands to sell their products to China and we strongly believe that . . . we will be able to help more British businesses reach potential Chinese customers," Amee Chande, managing director of Alibaba Group U.K., was quoted as saying.
"It is our mission to open the door to China for businesses of all sizes so that they can tap into the huge opportunity that presents to their future growth as a company," Chande added.
According to the report, Alibaba plans to expand its London office at the financial district of Canary Wharf to serve as its European hub, and to open other offices successively in France, Italy and Germany in the next months.
Jack Ma, who has been appointed to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's Business Advisory Group, had called on small and medium-sized Western companies to take advantage of China's expanding middle class.
"In the next 10-20 years, we believe there will be half-a-billion middle-class people (in China)," Ma told the Britain-China Business Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 21, during President Xi Jinping's state visit.
Ma urged Western companies to consider China as a "huge opportunity" despite a slowdown in its economy.
