Alibaba founder Jack Ma has used the occasion of the of the G20 summit in China to call for more free trade and less protectionism across the globe to help unfetter commerce and help small and medium businesses, according to reports.
Ma has called for an Electronic World Trade Platform, or e-WTP to help fits who have largely been ignored so far to trade effectively across borders.
According to Ma: “In the Internet Age, we need trade platforms that are more open, fairer and freer. We need to go back to trade itself. It is not an organization. It is not a negotiation. It is just a platform to enable the small and medium enterprises and the consumers of the world, especially the young.”
He singled out the World Trade Organisation for critiscim saying it specifically aids large corporations and multinationals but leaves behind small companies, especially in the developing world.
“Trade blocs are often used to advance protectionism rather than as enablers,” he said. “Trade is the best way for people across the world to communicate with each other. No matter if you like it or not, an age of new trade has come.”
It’s interesting to hear such a rich man, with obvious vested interests himself in freer trade, make such a case. Do you agree with him?
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Billionaire and Chairman of huge trade marketplace used by businesses of all sizes calls for more free trade – shock!