On 26 August 2019, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Vladimir Norov had a meeting with the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group Board Jack Ma at the Smart China Expo-2019 event in Chongqing.
At the beginning of the conversation, Vladimir Norov acquainted Jack Ma with the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the main results of the 2018 and 2019 SCO summits in Qingdao and Bishkek. He focused on the Organisation's efforts to expand multilateral trade and economic and investment collaboration.
The Alibaba Group CEO also obtained a detailed insight into the Concept of Cooperation in the Field of Digitalisation and Information-Communication Technologies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, passed at the June 2019 SCO summit in Bishkek.
Mr Norov suggested launching close cooperation with Alibaba Group top managers in order to exchange knowledge, expand the human capital in the sphere of digitalisation and IT-communication technologies, establish partner-like relations and further expand collaboration between companies (organisations) of SCO member states and other countries in the field of IT-communication technologies, implement joint projects at innovation clusters and technology parks of SCO member states, exchange experience regarding business incubators and startup acceleration under the above-mentioned concept.
In turn, the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma praised the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and its potential, as well as the SCO Secretariat's efforts to expand intra-SCO trade and economic cooperation.
He underscored the importance of expanding the internet, intelligent technologies and globalisation, so as to create new opportunities for entrepreneurs, young people and small businesses.
This should become our joint work. The Alibaba Group is growing at a breathtaking pace, but we don't pride ourselves in how much money we have earned, we pride ourselves in how many jobs we have created, he noted.
"I believe we should have met even earlier," Jack Ma said.
The Alibaba Group CEO acquainted SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov with corporate plans for the next few years. The company intends to create over 100 million jobs worldwide and to support ten million small businesses. He emphasized the importance of cooperation with the SCO in this context considering that over 800 million young people live in the SCO region.
"This amounts to tremendous opportunities as well as huge responsibility," Jack Ma noted. "We are ready to help the SCO implement the Concept of Cooperation in the Field of Digitalisation and Information-Communication Technologies," he added. Jack Ma voiced his readiness to send a working group of Alibaba Group experts to the SCO Secretariat in the near future in order to outline future cooperation guidelines.
The SCO Secretary-General congratulated the Alibaba Group CEO on the successful presentation of the corporate pavilion at the Smart China Expo-2019 and expressed confidence in expanding practical cooperation.
The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere.
Jack Ma (Ma Yun) is a Chinese entrepreneur, founder of Alibaba Group and its Executive Chairman. He became the first business manager from mainland China to have his photo published on the cover of Forbes Magazine. In March 2019, with a fortune of $37.3 billion, Jack Ma was ranked 21st in Forbes' World's Billionaires List. In 1999, he founded Alibaba Group with a statutory capital of over $60,000. The company has been cooperating with international organisations, including UNESCO and UNIDO. Alibaba Group and UNIDO have drafted a special programme to assist startups in developing their online trade businesses.