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By APD writer Juicy Chan
BANGKOK, April 19 (APD) -- Thailand's commerce minister Sontirat gifted Jack Ma, the founder of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba with a fresh "golden pillow", the country's most famous variety of durian at a signing ceremony on Thursday.
Ma, who has agreed to step up investments in Thailand, has surprised the country by selling 80 thousand golden pillow durians out on his online platform T-mall within just one minute.
Alibaba has signed a durian deal worth 428 million U.S. dollars with the Thai government.
The golden pillow durian, Thailand's most well known exported variety, has been officially sold on Alibaba's online supermarket since April 18, a day before Ma signed four memorandums of understanding with the Thai government on Thursday, covering trade, investment, support for e-commerce and tourism.
The China's biggest e-commerce company is reportedly splashing about 330 million U.S. dollars in Thailand as it aims to tap Chinese consumers’ appetite for the Southeast nation’s agricultural goods and for its tourism market.
At the ceremony, Alibaba and the Thai Commerce Ministry launched the first official Thai rice flagship store on T-mall, the world's largest third-party platform for brands and retailers besides driving the sale of popular Thai fruits into China.
Alibaba will also assist Thai agriculture businesses to harness the power of the company's insights into the Chinese consumer market.
"China is on its way to be the world's largest consumer, driven by rising income and a growing middle class of 300 million. There is no better time than now for trade-oriented countries to seize this opportunity to export to China as the country continues to open its doors wider for global trade."said Ma.
Alibaba first came to Thailand in 2016 when it partnered with the Thai government to strengthen e-commerce capabilities for small and medium-sized businesses in nation of more than 67 million.
"Given Thailand's unique strengths in people and culture, we are confident of its future and growth potential under the government's policy to expand the economy beyond heavy industry and agriculture to technology and other innovations. " said Ma who promised to produce results of mutual benefits from Alibaba's investments in Thailand by the end of 2019 when he met Thai Prime Minister Prayut on the same day.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
