Malaysian officials participate in Alibaba's digital economy workshop

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Xinhua) -- A group of Malaysian officials participated in a digital economy workshop organized by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said on Wednesday.

Composed of 30 Malaysian officials from 19 ministries and agencies responsible in driving the digital economy agenda, the delegation participated in the four-day program at the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China, the ministry said in a statement.

Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking and Alibaba founder Jack Ma were present at the opening ceremony of the workshop.

The workshop follows Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's visit to China last year, with Alibaba agreeing to cooperate on capacity building programs in the areas of digital economy and e-commerce, according to the statement.

"A growing number of Malaysian companies have started to export via the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ), and this will only increase as industry players understand the value of participating in this initiative," it said.

The Malaysia DFTZ went live in November 2017 as a joint undertaking between the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and China's Alibaba Group.

It seeks to establish Malaysia as a logistics center for global marketplaces by opening opportunities for companies both in Malaysia and regionally to develop an internet ecosystem in the country.