ITC & Alibaba.com join forces to support MSMEs in developing countries to succeed online

International Trade Centre (ITC) has partnered with Alibaba.com to launch the "Global Digital Trade Accelerator for MSMEs in Developing Countries" initiative on 6th Nov during the ongoing 2021 China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, China.

Together, the parties will help Micro, Small, and Medium Businesses (MSMEs) enhance their international export competitiveness and contribute to sustainable development by better utilizing eCommerce platform opportunities.

Daniel Zhang, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Alibaba Group, delivered a speech through video conference at the launching ceremony. He said that the pandemic has continued to pose challenges to global trade over the past two years, but challenges always go hand in hand with opportunities.

He said a large number of MSMEs are exploring digital ways to conduct and even sustainably scale up their business. Digital trade has become the engine leading the global trade transformation and is reshaping the world economic development picture like never before.

ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton believes that e-commerce is a key channel for global MSMEs to achieve rapid growth.

ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. It is fully dedicated to connecting MSMEs to global markets and committed to working towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by promoting trade that benefits the people and the planet.

Alibaba.com is a leading cross-border B2B e-commerce platform with over 20 million buyers from approximately 190 countries who had sourced business opportunities or completed transactions on Alibaba.com. "While global trade is currently facing many uncertainties, the trend of digitalization is a certainty," Zhang Kuo, general manager of Alibaba.com, said.

It is learned that companies of the project come from developing countries of Africa, Latin America, and Asia including Bolivia, Colombia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Myanmar, spanning a wide range of industries such as food and beverage and consumer goods.

Yi Xiaozhun, former Vice Minister of Commerce and former Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) believes that e-commerce provides an opportunity for developing countries to catch up the global trends, and the cooperation between Alibaba.com and ITC is practicing corporate social responsibility and promoting the growth of more MSMEs.