Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ)

KUALA LUMPUR, 22 March 2017 – Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, together with Jack Ma, founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, launched the world’s first Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) today. DFTZ will provide physical and virtual zones to facilitate SMEs to capitalise on the convergence of exponential growth of the internet economy and cross-border eCommerce activities. It will act as a microcosm to support internet companies to trade goods, provide services, innovate and co-create solutions.

DFTZ will be a boost to Malaysia’s eCommerce roadmap that was introduced in 2016, which aims to double the nation’s eCommerce growth and increase the GDP contribution to RM211 billion (approximately US$47.68 billion) by year 2020.

“Malaysians have embraced the internet economy and eCommerce in a big way. We are now leading the eCommerce market in the region generating revenue of US$2.3billion in 2015. With the launch of the world’s first Digital Free Trade Zone, Malaysia will serve as a regional eFulfillment center, and also become the regional hub for SMEs, marketplaces and monobrands,” said Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Dato’ Sri Najib added, “Both DFTZ and Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), the brainchild of Jack Ma, have one common goal. We want to help SMEs overcome the complex regulations, processes and barriers, and eventually further encourage businesses and traders to connect and collaborate in cross-border trading”.

The launch ceremony also witnessed the exchanges of Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) between four parties, and they are;

1. MDEC and Alibaba Group for strategic collaboration in the development of DFTZ in Malaysia consistent with the objective of the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP); and the development of a Regional Hub for eCommerce business, trade facilitation, SME onboarding, cloud services for enterprises and an eFulfilment and logistics hub.
2. Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and Cainiao Network for the development of a regional eCommerce and Logistics Hub in KLIA Aeropolis as part of the Digital Free Trade Zone Initiative.
3. Alipay and Maybank / Alipay and CIMB for the collaboration in launching Alipay barcode payment in Malaysia. This partnership will enable mainland Chinese tourists to make payment using their favourite payment method - their Alipay e-wallet. For Malaysian merchants, this will give them exposure to the vast China market.
4. MDEC and Catcha Group for the collaboration for the establishment of Kuala Lumpur Internet City (KLIC).

DFTZ consists of three main components that combine both physical and virtual zones. The physical zone comprises of the eFulfillment Hub and Satellite Services Hub while the virtual zone consists of the eServices Platform. DFTZ will provide SMEs, marketplaces and monobrands a holistic eCommerce trading experience through these benefits:

1. Strategic location and global best-in-class facilities

• Gateway to the region and proximity to sea and air ports
• High efficiency modular eFulfillment warehouse
• Satellite services hub to support eCommerce ecosystem
• Employee-centric infrastructure

2. Services

• Unified government services platform
• Integrated digital eServices platform to access leading global service providers
• Presence of global logistics and fulfilment service providers

3. Regulatory processes

• Improve regulatory processes leading to faster customs and cargo clearance

DFTZ has the potential to double the growth rate of Malaysian SMEs’ goods export by 2025. It is also estimated to support US$65 billion worth of goods moving through DFTZ. Additionally, DFTZ is expected to create 60,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2025.

“DFTZ is a testament to Malaysia’s unwavering commitment to propel the growth of SMEs through eCommerce. It also marks a new phase of collaboration between Malaysian and Chinese businesses through the participation of Mr. Ma and Alibaba Group. I strongly believe that together, we can achieve a more prosperous economic landscape that benefits the industry and people,” Dato’ Sri Najib commented.

“The eWTP or Electronic World Trade Platform should be driven by businesses and supported by governments. If we can build an inclusive platform for businesses and young people to trade and do business freely, openly, and fairly, this will be fundamental to the world economy over the next 20 to 30 years and for the century,” said Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.

DFTZ’s implementation of physical and virtual zones will be done in phases. The first eFulfillment Hub will be centred at KLIA Aeropolis. KLIA Aeropolis development is centered on the key clusters of air cargo and logistics, aerospace and aviation. The initial phase will be rolled out before the end of 2017 by Alibaba, Cainiao, Lazada and POS Malaysia, leading to the formal launch of Alibaba's facility at the end of 2019.

The other physical component of the DFTZ is the Satellite Services Hub, to be located in Bandar Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur Internet City (KLIC) will be the first satellite services hub of DFTZ and will be developed by another strategic partner, Catcha Group, Southeast Asia’s leading internet group. KLIC is set to be the premier digital hub for global and local internet-related companies targeting Southeast Asia. It will comprise of key players within the internet ecosystem to facilitate end-to-end support, networking and knowledge-sharing that will drive innovation in the internet economy and the eCommerce industry.

“Catcha Group is proud to be a strategic partner of DFTZ, supporting Malaysia’s plan to propel the growth of the country’s internet economy. We are excited to be developing KLIC, bringing all the key eCommerce players and internet companies within close proximity of each other to create a premier digital hub. Our vision for KLIC is to be the ASEAN headquarter for global internet MNC’s, regional leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs in the internet ecosystem.” said Patrick Grove, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Catcha Group.

The virtual zone, which is the E-Services Platform, will be made available in time to support the goods movement within DFTZ. The e-Services platform will also offer integrated services that will help deliver a streamlined and efficient experience to the users operating from the DFTZ.

Further expansions of DFTZ are also planned for beyond 2019.

ABOUT MALAYSIA DIGITAL ECONOMY CORPORATION (MDEC)

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation or MDEC (formerly known as Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn. Bhd.) is the lead agency in driving the digital economy in Malaysia under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia. Since its inception 20 years ago, MDEC’s mission is to develop the nation’s digital economy. MDEC’s implementation efforts are centred on driving investments, building local tech champions, catalysing digital innovation ecosystems and propagating digital inclusivity.

MDEC is also responsible to ensure that Malaysia plays an integral part in developing and nurturing talent to drive digital innovation around the world, while attracting participation from global ICT companies to invest and develop cutting edge digital and creative solutions in the country.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 (Bernama) --Malaysia's stride into the world of digital economy will become a reality when the visionary digital free trade zone (DFTZ) goes live tomorrow.

The initiative, said to be the world's first DFTZ outside China, was launched on March 22, 2017 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak together with Jack Ma, the Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.

DFTZ is now ready to go live with the launch of its logistics operations and Najib will flag-off more than 1,500 Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for them to begin their export journey, at a ceremony to be held at Sepang International Circuit on Thursday.

Among others, DFTZ will provide physical and virtual zones to facilitate SMEs to capitalise on the convergence of exponential growth of the Internet economy and cross-border e-commerce activities.

The set-up will include an e-fulfillment hub, satellite services hub and an e-services platform to stimulate growth in electronic trade which will also function to support Internet companies to trade goods, provide services, innovate and co-create solutions.....

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s stride into the world of digital economy will become a reality when the visionary digital free trade zone (DFTZ) goes live tomorrow.

The initiative, said to be the world’s first DFTZ outside China, was launched on March 22, 2017 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak together with Jack Ma, the Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.

DFTZ is now ready to go live with the launch of its logistics operations and Najib will flag-off more than 1,500 Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for them to begin their export journey, at a ceremony to be held at Sepang International Circuit on Thursday.

Among others, DFTZ will provide physical and virtual zones to facilitate SMEs to capitalise on the convergence of exponential growth of the Internet economy and cross-border e-commerce activities.

The set-up will include an e-fulfillment hub, satellite services hub and an e-services platform to stimulate growth in electronic trade which will also function to support Internet companies to trade goods, provide services, innovate and co-create solutions.

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the lead agency in driving Malaysia’s digital economy, is confident DFTZ will boost Malaysia’s e-commerce roadmap that was introduced in 2016, aimed at doubling the nation’s e-commerce growth and increase the Gross Domestic Product contribution to RM211 billion by 2020.

Najib was reported as saying that both DFTZ and the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), another brainchild of Jack Ma, have one common goal.

“We want to help SMEs overcome complex regulations, processes and barriers and eventually further encourage businesses and traders to connect and collaborate through cross-border trading,” he said.

Focus has been given to this new industry, which is believed to provide a handsome number for the economy.As a result, Najib, in the recent 2018 Budget, announced that the first phase of DFTZ would see the participation of some 1,500 SMEs and they were expected to attract RM700 million worth of investments and create 2,500 jobs.

But, it is understood that the number of participating SMEs had increased to 2,000 recently, hence, surpassing the initial target.

The government, via its budget tabling, also announced an allocation of RM83.5 million for infrastructure construction for the first phase of the DFTZ in Aeropolis, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), to create a regional gateway for e-commerce.

Thus far, four Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) were signed in March towards the enhancement of e-commerce.

The first MoU was between MDEC and Alibaba Group for strategic collaboration in the development of DFTZ in Malaysia, regional hub for e-commerce business, trade facilitation, SME onboarding, cloud services for enterprises and an e-Fulfilment and logistics hub.

The second MoU was between Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Cainiao Network for the development of a regional e-commerce and logistics hub in KLIA Aeropolis as part of the DFTZ Initiative.

Meanwhile Alipay, the third-party mobile and online payment platform, signed an MoU with Malayan Banking and CIMB, to launch the Alipay barcode payment in Malaysia.

This partnership will enable mainland Chinese tourists to make payment using their favourite payment method - their Alipay e-wallet.

The fourth MoU was between MDEC and Catcha Group for collaboration in the establishment of the Kuala Lumpur Internet City.

Further expansion of the DFTZ is being planned for beyond 2019.-- BERNAMA

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KUALA LUMPUR: Global e-commerce platform, eBay is keen to tap into the Malaysian robust small and medium entreprises (SMEs) in line with the government's Digital Free Trade Zone (DTFZ) initiative.

“Today, eBay has 168 million active buyers worldwide buying items from over 1.1 billion listings in our marketplace. With this, we can help Malaysian SMEs expand their business opportunities by providing a global shop front accessed by buyers across the world,” said Wong Mei Inn, Country Head Trade, eBay Malaysia said in a statement.
“With Malaysia’s current developed internet infrastructure and the DTFZ on the horizon, there’s no better time for Malaysian SMEs to go global.”

She noted as well that the increase in broadband penetration coupled with strong government support for Internet-based retail has lowered the entry barriers for Malaysians to do business online.

As such, eBay will focus on offering localized seller support to catalyse the growth of Cross Border Trade sellers in Malaysia by developing strategic initiatives to equip local business owners with a competitive edge over host sites’ sellers.

This support will encompasses three pillars which are technical, logistical as well as education and business.

“In the era of the digital economy, eCommerce is the way to go for businesses, especially with the nation’s market growth expected to grow to RM 16.3 billion in 2017 alone,” continued Wong.

A survey that was done recently by eBay also noted that the top three export destinations for Malaysian sellers are the United States of America (USA), Australia and United Kingdom (UK).

USA remains its position as the top export destination for businesses based in Malaysia, with a 60 per cent growth from the previous year.

Additionally, the fastest growing corridor for cross-border transactions are Germany (336 per cent), Ukraine (108 per cent) and China (107 per cent) respectively.

Asia Pacific is recognised as the world's fastest growing eCommerce region and Malaysia is now leading the eCommerce market in the region, generating a revenue of US$2.3billion in 2015.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 30, 2017 – Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, today opened its data center in Malaysia. Located strategically for Southeast Asian coverage, the data center will meet the surging demand for scalable and cost-effective cloud computing services among enterprises in the region.

As the first global public cloud platform in Malaysia, the new center will provide Malaysian enterprises a local choice to build their businesses and run their applications on a powerful, reliable and secure cloud platform. Customers with low latency or data sovereignty requirements will be able to store and process huge amounts of data in Malaysia. By migrating IT infrastructure to the cloud, enterprises can leverage Alibaba Cloud's scalable and cost effective cloud services to scale rapidly, accelerate innovation and expand their geographic reach in minutes.

The power and network strength of the data center reaches beyond Malaysia. It provides flexibility for enterprises as far away as Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand to subscribe to services according to different disaster recovery and network speed requirements. The link to the data centers in Hong Kong and Singapore via Alibaba Cloud's backbone network will provide fast, stable, secure and private or dedicated connections between different cloud environments, providing customers efficient cross-border hybrid cloud solutions.

The data center will offer a comprehensive suite of cloud products and services ranging from elastic computing, database service, networking, security, middleware, to analytics and big data. This will encompass the full range of Alibaba Cloud's solutions which will satisfy the needs of governments and large corporations as well as enterprises in the Internet, game, multimedia, mobile Internet and finance industries. The big data service "MaxCompute" (a big data platform that allows users to store and process massive amounts of structural data to levels as high as terabyte or even petabyte) in particular, will bring sophisticated data intelligence services ranging from data processing and analytics to machine learning to Malaysian businesses, driving their technology-enabled business transformation.

Alibaba Cloud has dedicated a local team of solutions architects and professional consultants to provide services from cloud consulting to after-sales support, helping customers of all sizes as they move to the cloud and enabling them to realize their full economic potential.

Simon Hu, Senior Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Alibaba Cloud said: "The Malaysia data center will give us a leading edge to support the growth of SMEs and other businesses in the region. For SMEs and start-ups in particular, access to scalable and cost effective cloud services, as well as a local support team are decisive factors when they choose a cloud service partner. Alibaba Cloud's powerful and comprehensive solutions will offer smaller companies a level playing field to compete in global trade. Large enterprises, on the other hand, will enjoy the convenience and security of local data storage, helping them to meet applicable regulatory requirements."

In March this year, Alibaba Group announced the setup of the first overseas e-hub under eWTP or Electronic World Trade Platform in Malaysia. The cloud solutions offered by the data center will facilitate seamless cross-border online businesses for Malaysian enterprises.
"In the near future, cloud computing, data technology and AI will become fundamental tools for all companies and organizations to operate effectively. The newly opened data center will boost Malaysia's cloud infrastructure and be the digital foundation to realize the eWTP vision in the country," Hu added.

The new data center in Malaysia will add to Alibaba Cloud's 14 data centers worldwide, covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. (East and West Coast).

For more information on products and services, go to: https://www.alibabacloud.com/campaign/malaysia-cloud-server

About Alibaba Cloud
Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com), the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, is among the world's top three IaaS providers according to Gartner, and the largest provider of public cloud services in China, according to IDC. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to businesses worldwide, including merchants doing business on Alibaba Group marketplaces, start-ups, corporations and government organisations. Alibaba Cloud is the official Cloud Services Partner of the International Olympic Committee.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- The Alibaba Group has launched its 24-hour 11.11 Global Shopping Festival for the first time in Malaysia, offering discounts of up to 50 per cent and international shipping fees starting from zero ringgit.

The Chinese e-commerce giant said Malaysian shoppers using e-banking facilities would also be able to enjoy RM30 cashback with a minimum purchase of RM300 on Taobao, one of its flagship online marketplaces.

"Malaysia is a key market for the group and we find that Chinese consumers have a preference for Malaysian products such as snacks and coffee," said Alibaba Group Tmall World Southeast Asia Business Development Manager Cici Cai after launching the festival here today.

Apart from Alibaba's Tmall and Taobao marketplaces, Malaysian consumers can also shop via the Lazada platform under the 'Taobao Collection'.

The Alibaba Group has a 83 per cent stake in Lazada.....

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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- The digital economy has strengthened further and is now one of the main contributors to the country's economy and projected to account for 18.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the performance was expected to continue next year especially through initiatives outlined under Budget 2018.

"We have set a target for the digital economy to contribute 20 per cent to the country's GDP by 2020, but with various initiatives in Budget 2018, I think it will surpass our expectation," he said when appearing as a guest in a dialogue session titled 'The Digital Economy Wave and its Impact' at the e-Entrepreneur Convention 2017 here today.

He was also optimistic about the potential of the digital economy which is rapidly expanding locally and globally.

The importance of the digital economy was obvious as demonstrated by the five-day #MyCybersale 2016 which generated online sales of RM211 million, he said.....

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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- The Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) has attracted the participation of close to 2,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the total number had surpassed the initial target to rope in 1,500 SMEs to be involved in the free trade zone which will be operational this Friday.

"These SMEs are able to access the global market especially the market in China, which is a huge market," he said during the TN50's e-Entrepreneur Dialogue here today.

Also present were Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Rahman Dahlan, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh and Malaysia Economy Digital Corporation (MDEC) Chief Executive Officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood.

Meanwhile, Yasmin said a digital platform had been developed especially for DFTZ to facilitate the SMEs to export their products via the trade zone.

She said the platform would start operating simultaneously with DFTZ and the participating SMEs were already given training.

Besides optimising trade through e-trade, the DFTZ was also targeting to double the cross-border trade growth by local SMEs.

On eUsahawan, Yasmin said since it was introduced in 2015, the programme, organised by MDEC, had successfully trained more than 100,000 participants and generated additional sales of worth over RM136 million.

Based on this achievement, MDEC had targeted to double the sales next year, she added.

-- BERNAMA

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Alibaba Cloud Malaysia Sdn Bhd (ACM) has expressed the company’s 'passion and commitment' to Malaysia’s nation-building efforts and has aligning itself to contribute specifically to the country’s digital economy.

"As a locally registered company, ACM is in an ideal position to catalyse digital transformation spanning both the public and private sectors, aiming for the enrichment of the lives of the rakyat and local businesses,” country manager Kenny Tan said in a statement today.

According to international research firm Gartner, Alibaba Cloud is alongside Amazon Web Services and Microsoft as one of the world’s top three cloud computing platforms.

“With such empowerment comes great responsibility and this is true for us here in Malaysia as well,” explained Tan.

“Late last year, prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the 'Cloud First' strategy as a national agenda. Being in this industry itself, we have great confidence that this will serve to catalyse the digital economy even further. This ties in to another item on the national agenda, which is digital transformation," he said.

ACM, as a provider of cloud infrastructure and services, is on the front line of this manifesto, said Tan.

“Through faster delivery of information technology services, digital services in the country can now offer businesses the capabilities once only to be had by massive corporations,” Tan said.

“We allow them to work in or with technologies to offer new and better services, such as data sharing and online transactions, in which resources are retrieved from the Internet through web-based tools and applications. The cost is only a fraction of what it used to be. And the limit is nearly inexistent, thanks to the scalability of cloud services.”

“With a strong local presence in Malaysia, ACM has tied itself to the future of the country. The purpose is not only to offer cutting-edge cloud computing technologies, but to also extend these capabilities to various industry verticals, including those who face regulatory obstacles in areas such as data storage,” he added.

Late last year, the Alibaba Group announced the first Electronic World Trade Platform, or eWTP hub outside of China, which offers Malaysian small medium enterprises (SMEs) the infrastructure for doing commerce with services encompassing e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, mobile payment and talent training and which also forms part of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ).

Earlier this month, ACM also announced a collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and City Hall (DBKL) to make Kuala Lumpur the first city outside of China to implement its “City Brain” solution.

The solution is aimed at making traffic flow smoother within Malaysia’s capital.

Alibaba Group president Simon Hu said: "Cloud computing, data technology and artificial intelligence (AI) have become fundamental tools for all companies and organisations to operate effectively.

"Building on this partnership, we are happy to see Malaysia become the first country outside of China to adopt the “City Brain” solution. Through this initiative, we aim to empower all Malaysian stakeholders in both the public and private sectors, with the tools to enhance efficiency, advance in innovation and to succeed in the digital age.

“Malaysia remains one of our key investment markets. We have strong confidence in the country’s digital economy vision and its National Artificial Intelligence Framework. This collaboration with MDEC and DBKL solidifies our longstanding partnership with Malaysia.”

The Alibaba Group is also the Official Cloud and e-commerce Partner at the ongoing Winter Olympic Games.

“Through our technology, we help create a more efficient and enjoyable experience for all audiences of all sizes,” said Tan.

Tan then proceed to quote the Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma: “Like the Olympic Games, Alibaba believes in creating a level playing field, giving everyone the chance to compete on the global stage.”

“Here in Malaysia, it is this very mission which excites us as we wake up in the morning and go to work every single day,” he concluded.

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