Alibaba hears EEC park plea

Alibaba hears EEC park plea

The government has urged Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to expand its park project planned for the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) to cover other provinces in Thailand, says Uttama Savanayana, the industry minister.

Alibaba Group's new team is set to hold talks about the issue with the government in March, he said. The expansion is aimed at helping local business operators, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

"The government wants Alibaba to expand the project to help SMEs in other provinces," Mr Uttama said.

The e-commerce park will be a one-of-a-kind facility in the region, including a distribution centre, logistics hub, production plant and training centre for Thailand's SME business and processing centres.

Mr Uttama said Alibaba expects the EEC e-commerce park to comprise between six and eight projects.

Alibaba confirmed the purchase of 300 rai in EEC areas to develop the e-commerce park and serve the booming e-commerce market in Asean countries.

The group signed a contract to construct the first phase of the e-commerce park with a local builder in the third quarter of 2017.

"The Chinese e-commerce company plans to build an R&D centre and an SME business development centre in the second phase," Mr Uttama said.

Alibaba expects the entire e-commerce park to be completed in 2018.

Mr Uttama said the government wants local SMEs to access the online market, which in turn enables them to access farm products in rural areas.

"The government and Alibaba Group have projects to promote and support SMEs together, so the government thinks Alibaba can help by expanding the project to cover 77 provinces," he said.

Alibaba also wants to include Thai SMEs in its supply chain.

Mr Uttama said Alibaba wants to use Thailand as a base to ship products to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as other global markets.

Apart from the Chinese e-commerce behemoth, other foreign companies are keen on investing in the EEC.

Recently, 50 Russian companies met with the government and have expressed interest in investing in aviation, petrochemicals, double-track railways and biotechnology in the EEC.

"The Russian government, together with the private sector, plans to visit Thailand and talk about the cooperation and the investment plan again in May," Mr Uttama said.

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