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By APD writer Juicy Chan
**BANGKOK, April 19 (APD) -- **China's e-commerce giant Alibaba will establish a Smart Digital Hub in Thailand's much-touted Eastern Economic Corridor(EEC), Alibaba Group announced here in Bangkok on Thursday.
The founder of the online shopping giant, Jack Ma, met with Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha on Thursday and signed an agreement to help set up the hub to facilitate trade between Thailand, China, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The internet retail giant is reportedly proposing investments worth about 11 billion baht(about 330 million U.S. dollars) in the digital hub.
The digital hub will utilize world-class data and logistics technologies of Alibaba and Cainiao, the official global parcel tracking platform of Alibaba Group to optimize the cross-border flow of goods between Thailand and other Asian countries.
Alibaba said Cainiao will also work closely with the EEC office and Thai Customs to promote the digitization of customs processes through big data and artificial intelligence as well as sharing of global best practices.
"We are extremely interested in is training and developing people here. We aim to provide full-time training for young people, small businesses online." said Ma who also signed other three memorandums of understanding with the Thai government covering trade, investment and tourism on the same day, adding that Alibaba does not only come to help Thailand sell its agriculture products, but also hope to explore more opportunities for young generation and SMEs.
The 45 billion U.S. dollars EEC project covering Thailand's three eastern provinces , situated near the Gulf of Thailand, is aimed at attracting high-tech investment and is a focus of the current government's policy to boost growth.
Groundbreaking for the digital hub is expected in 2018, with operations expected to commence in 2019.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
