Najib confident DFTZ will be new hub of digital economy

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is confident the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) will be the new hub of the digital economy, with more Malaysians, both in the rural and urban areas, benefiting from it.

He said the DFTZ could definitely learn from China's e-trade and Alibaba Group's achievements, adding that it saw the future and was quick to embrace the new way to trade in the 21st century.

"I am impressed with Alibaba's achievements. In just 13 years, the company's transactions have reached 3 trillion yuan or close to RM1.9 trillion.

"During the Global Shopping Festival last year, Alibaba processed a peak of 175,000 orders per second," he said in a post on Facebook and Twitter on Friday.

Najib made a brief stopover at Hangzhou on Friday to get an insight into the operations of the Alibaba Group.

He also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Hangzhou Municipal Government and the Alibaba Group.

The MoU is among the efforts being undertaken by Malaysia to implement the DFTZ project that was recently launched by Najib and Alibaba Group executive chairman Jack Ma, who is also Digital Economy adviser to the Malaysian Government.

"With the DFTZ, the ecosystem of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship will change and be more inclusive. Expect to see an increase in the value chain and 60,000 new jobs," Najib said.

The DFTZ is aimed at spurring Malaysia's economic growth by providing cross-border e-trade facilities for SMEs, which in the past found it difficult to penetrate the international market.

It will, among others, provide an area at the KL International Airport Aeropolis for logistics facilities and storage, and efficiently expedite customs and financing procedures. - Bernama