5.06pm marks a historic time for Malaysian economy

Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) has officially gone live.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, with Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, hit the gong three times at 5.06pm, signalling the start of an exciting journey for Malaysia’s digital economy.

The prime minister flagged off the operations of more than 1,900 local small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) as they begin to export products overseas.

Present were Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood and cabinet ministers.

It was reported that the country’s digital economy was expected to contribute 18.2 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Officials in Putrajaya had expressed a positive outlook on the country’s digital economy, which was expected to grow more than 20 per cent in GDP by 2020.

The move to open the world’s first DFTZ outside China was launched on March 22 by Najib and Ma.

DFTZ would also provide physical and virtual zones to help SMEs capitalise on the convergence of exponential growth of cross-border e-commerce.

The zone comprised an e-fulfilment hub, satellite services hub and an e-services platform to stimulate growth in electronic trade.

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the lead agency in driving the country’s digital economy, was confident that DFTZ would boost the country’s e-commerce roadmap — introduced last year and aimed at doubling the nation’s e-commerce growth and increasing its GDP contribution to RM211 billion by 2020.

MDEC is reported to have trained 100,000 entrepreneurs this year in digital marketing, which enables them to participate in local e-commerce before going global.