Alibaba pilots nonprofit elderly care service
Alibaba Group is testing a new model of elderly care through its "time bank," which makes every hour people spend advancing public welfare exchangeable for services for seniors, the company said on Tuesday.
According to a memorandum of understanding on cooperation signed between Alibaba Foundation and the bureau of civil affairs of Binjiang district in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, online Alibaba users will have a unified quantitative standard to evaluate their public welfare acts. Alibaba also unveiled a set of criteria, the first in China to measure the value of voluntary service hours and philanthropic behaviors, with its basic unit named "public welfare hours."
Meanwhile, Alibaba
Group Holding Ltd said on Wednesday that it is setting up the secretariat for its electronic World Trade Platform in Hangzhou, so that the permanent liaison office could help boost the initiative's footprint at home and abroad.
As an eWTP institution, the secretariat is responsible for the daily operations, international cooperation, training and exchange programs, achievement displays and the release of rules and models, according to company officials.
The secretariat, located in the Xixi National Wetland Park close to Alibaba's headquarters, is slated to be operational from October next year.
"As the initiator of eWTP, Alibaba is a pioneer in combining business services with technology capabilities," said Eric Jing, a partner of Alibaba and chairman of Ant Financial Services Group, its payment arm. He said that the secretariat is on course to establishing similar platforms with other eWTP hubs in Malaysia and Belgium.
The secretariat is likely to play a pivotal role in constructing eWTP, which is aimed at lowering trade barriers through technological empowerment, and pushing ahead with some of the world's best digital economy practices in Hangzhou, according to the city's vicemayor Hu Wei.
"We hope the secretariat will … enhance our connections with international organizations and institutions like the World Economic Forum and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, organize highlevel training with relevant government agencies and companies, and promote the sharing of 'Chinese experience' on digital economy with the rest of the world," he said during the launch ceremony.
In a parallel development, a public service platform under the auspices of eWTP will also debut in Hangzhou, allowing small-and medium-sized enterprises engaged in cross-border business to access a unified electronic "operating system", the company said.
SMEs thus stand to benefit from a one-stop solution for online customs clearance, settlement exchange, tax refunds, as well as logistics and financial services. Hangzhou Customs completed in September tests on a cross-border e-commerce bonded area, paving the way for SMEs to realize the "Buy from the Globe and Sell to the Globe" vision, said Zhang Yi, vicedirector of Hangzhou Customs.
Since it was first proposed by Alibaba founder Jack Ma in 2016, the eWTP has been recognized by the G20, and adopted by cities in China, Malaysia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Belgium.