Mexico’s President Enrique Pe√±a Nieto and Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma on Wednesday witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding that will bring the Chinese company’s e-commerce, digital payments and logistics expertise to Mexican small- and mid-sized enterprises, allowing them to expand into international markets—in particular, China.
Per the MOU, signed in Hangzhou by Alibaba Group President Mike Evans and Undersecretary of Industry and Commerce of the Ministry of Economy of Mexico Jos√© Rogelio Garza, Alibaba will create a special program specifically for Mexico to benefit from the company’s business-to-business trading platform, Alibaba.com. In addition, Alibaba will share best practices in the operation of its logistics and payment platforms so that Mexican companies might bolster their cross-border e-commerce operations, as well as attract Chinese tourism to Mexico. Alibaba said it would also provide training in the kinds of analytics that have driven consumer insight and product innovation in the Chinese market.
“Alibaba is one of the world¬¥s largest technology companies with a sophisticated e-commerce ecosystem and a remarkable reach of more than 500 million active annual consumers globally,” Nieto said in a statement. “By partnering with Alibaba, we can expand Mexico’s export options in China and Asia more broadly, while enhancing Mexican SMEs’ knowledge of e-commerce and cross-border trade.”
The MOU is the latest agreement that Alibaba has signed in an attempt to create a more inclusive global economy, the most recent with Malaysia. The goal, the company has said, is to provide SMEs in developing countries with the skills necessary to benefit from cross-border trade.
“Alibaba is committed to inspiring, motivating and enabling SMEs from around the world to grow and thrive through e-commerce and the use of technology,” Ma said. “We are delighted to help promote cross-border trade with Mexico through this MOU. We view our cooperation as a way to energize economic development in both countries.”
Ma traveled to Mexico in May and met with Nieto to discuss how technology plays a critical role in economic development and competitiveness, and proposed the signing of the MOU during that visit. In its statement on Wednesday, Alibaba said the agreement was further confirmation of its commitment to help Mexican SMEs enter the Chinese consumer market.
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China is Mexico’s second-largest trading partner globally, and Mexico is China’s second-largest trading partner in the Americas. Already, Mexican exports ranging from agricultural products to packaged food and tourism packages are sold on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms.
This is the third MOU that Alibaba has signed with a government in Latin America. In May, the company agreed to help bring food and wine from Argentina to China, while a partnership with Brazil’s national postal service,Correios, was signed in in 2014.
