Thai Government and Alibaba team up to help SMEs succeed in e-commerce

Thailand’s Government and Alibaba have agreed to work together to provide e-commerce training for Thai SMEs and individuals – and Alibaba will also be working with Thailand Post to help boost the country’s supply chain and logistics systems. Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and Alibaba Group’s Executive Chairman Jack Ma witnessed the signing of a Letter of Intent on the new agreement yesterday (8 December) at Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China.

The Thai Government and Alibaba will also “explore ways to enhance the country’s logistics capabilities to support Thailand 4.0 and Digital Economy strategies”.

“This visit to Alibaba represents a continuation of the bilateral talks between the Prime Minister and Mr. Jack Ma,” said Jatusripitak.

“In order to strengthen the competitiveness of Thailand’s SMEs and help them succeed in an increasingly digital era, the Prime Minister has earlier assigned responsibilities to a taskforce made up of government agencies and private enterprises to work with Alibaba in a joint effort to lift the export capabilities of Thai businesses, starting from the grassroots and community level and extending to mid-tier businesses operating locally and SMEs hoping to engage in export trade.”

In a statement posted yesterday, the Thailand Ministry of Commerce said that the agreement covers four key areas:

• Alibaba and Lazada (its majority owned e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia) will help provide e-commerce training to 30,000 Thai SMEs. They will also share their experience and expertise with the Thai government to help build Thailand’s own National E-Commerce Platform.
• Thailand’s Government and Alibaba will collaborate on the creation of a nationwide People and Talent Development Program, which aims to train around 10,000 individuals so they can be proficient in digital technology. The two sides said they would also work together to “nurture” software developers who will be “given access to the China market via Alibaba Cloud’s marketplace for their software apps creations”. Senior government officials will receive training at the Thailand Digital Government Academy, initially on big data and artificial intelligence technologies. Alibaba and Lazada will jointly run a train-the-trainer programme to groom e-commerce business coordinators who will in turn help SMEs establish their own online export capabilities.
• Alibaba and Lazada have agreed to contribute to the development of Thailand’s supply chain and logistics systems by sharing their experience and expertise with Thailand Post. The statement added: “Studies on Alibaba’s inventory management systems and international e-commerce fulfillment services will also be undertaken by Thailand Post to gain insight into the establishment of bonded warehouses and fulfilment centers.”
• Alibaba and the Thai government will explore cooperation opportunities under the Eastern Economic Corridor Development project and “help establish Thailand as a hub of digital technology and regional data centers in Southeast Asia”.