G2G cooperation with China can boost e-commerce

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and China need to strengthen cooperation and understanding on regulatory coordination at the government-to-government (G2G) level to set clear policy direction in order to facilitate and boost e-commerce trading with China.

International Trade and Industry Minister II Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said he had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with many countries on e-commerce and proposed the same with China.

“We will work on this immediately and come up with something concrete by the first half of next year.

“We need to sit down with them (China) to zero in on all the barriers that need to be cleared before signing the MoU,” he told reporters after launching the mini eCommerce forum in conjunction with the visit of China Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan yesterday.

Ong said policy direction was very important although businessmen could have innovative ideas but if government policies do not facilitate business, products would not be able to penetrate other countries.

He said China’s suggestion to have a G2G MoU would set a clear policy direction and among areas that would be discussed further include medical and healthcare products and, food items.

Ong also said the Chinese Vice-Minister highlighted the fact that there were many other ways to conduct e-commerce and the most common one was to go through the Alibaba platform. - Bernama