The Digital Free Trade Zone is the world’s first e-commerce platform outside of China, jointly organised by the Malaysian government and AliBaba as a regional hub for SME’s and merchants to utilise for better market penetration, while at the same time bringing costs down and making goods and services more affordable to the people.

Fusionex will be providing the Big Data e-services technology that will be running the platform. Speaking to Fusionex spokesperson on the scope and functions provided by the platform, he says, “It is a trade facilitation platform that is integrated with other business service platforms and government service platforms, to facilitate a paperless, end-to-end and accurate data capture, data storage, data exchange and data analytics process, in respect of the high growth in internet trade activities. So it will be used by business service platforms (e.g. Lazada, Alibaba etc.) and by government service platforms (e.g. customs).”

Fusionex together with a number of parties will be provisioning the platform, however the other parties names were not released to us just yet. Fusionex however will be the prime lead.

Details as to the licensing and value attached to bringing this project to fruition was not disclosed either. Watch this space for updates as they come in.

Perhaps AliBaba’s participation in this effort should give the needed boost to make the effort a success. Users and investors confidence would be well bolstered knowing the tech giants involvement.

Commenting on their collaboration with AliBaba, Fusionex spokesperson says, “Alibaba is directly involved in the DFTZ initiative and with Fusionex being a strategic partner of Alibaba Cloud, inadvertently there are strong collaborations with Fusionex. Fusionex sees this as a synergistic partnership and one that would continue to grow, not just in this but in various areas as well, as we work towards driving digital transformation across the region.”

Fusionex is leading a consortium to provide the e-services platform, powered by Big Data technologies, for the world’s first Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) – a ground-breaking initiative jointly launched between the Malaysian Government and e-commerce marketplace titan, Alibaba. The DFTZ will facilitate small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and merchants to capitalize on the internet community as well as the e-marketplace via a huge borderless addressable market.

At the same time, these cost benefits and efficiencies inadvertently trickle down to consumers who would stand to enjoy faster, efficient and more cost-effective products and fulfilment.

Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak declared, “We want to be the leader in the region for global trade. We want this to be the regional hub. We want SMEs to really grow by leaps and bounds and that can happen because of DFTZ. “Digital Malaysia is the fastest growing sector in our economy. It is a sector that will enjoy double digit growth, and the sky is the limit! This (the DFTZ) is the part that will provide the growth, the potential, the impetus, the catalyst for us to change, redefine regional and global trade, redefine the role of SMEs, and redefine the partnership of Malaysia and China.” Alibaba Group Chairman and Founder Jack Ma commented, “today we are witnessing that in Asia, small businesses can use digital ways to enable themselves to sell things, to buy things, to bridge moneys all across the world. Alibaba commits that we will make this thing – the first DFTZ, the first eWTP – very successful!

The DFTZ is also expected to generate a huge amount of online transactions of orders, trade movements, payments, and more, coming in and going out of the country and region, hence the need for the platform to be powered by Big Data technologies. Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh, Fusionex Group CEO, say, “The DFTZ is a first of its kinddigital hub that brings together a multitude of key parties including trade facilitation players, e-marketplace players, government agencies, logistics providers, freight forwarders, and of course, SMEs.

This visionary initiative by the Malaysian government and Alibaba will pave the way to a seamless digital trade platform that will help remove unnecessary barriers, reduce costs and minimize or avoid unnecessary delays and encumbrances.

Visit https://www.fusionex-international.com/products/trade-facilitation/ for more information about Fusionex Trade Facilitation platform