Argentina promotes sales to China through e-commerce Alibaba

Wednesday, May 3rd 2017 - 07:15 UTC

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Argentine president Mauricio Macri and Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma meet at Government House following the MOU to open up new trade opportunities

Argentine president Mauricio Macri and Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday in Buenos Aires as a way to open up new trade opportunities and to support merchants that are marketing products on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.

The founder and owner of the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba gave the go-ahead to the pilot project between the Asian giant and the Argentine International Investment and Trade Agency to promote the online marketing of fresh food products like meat, poultry and seafood produced by small and medium-sized companies from Argentina.

“This agreement strengthens trade between Argentina and China,” Alibaba President Michael Evans said in the announcement. MOUs are not legally binding but are considered formal agreements.

The MOU focuses on two areas: wine and fresh foods. Under the conditions of the partnership, Alibaba's e-commerce platforms are being declared official channels by Argentina, which happens to be the fifth-largest producer of agricultural products worldwide.

“The ultimate beneficiaries will be the merchants, especially small and medium enterprises, who will gain access to unprecedented cross-border trade opportunities through Alibaba's platforms,” Evans noted.

The Argentine government seeks to promote relations between marketers of both countries and promote Argentine wine on the Chinese market, which consumes 16 million hectoliters of wine a year, almost half of which is sold online, according to Alibaba statistics.