Alibaba launched a two-day e-commerce event AliExpo 2024 in Sydney on Friday to help inspire reading about opportunities in China and Southeast Asia and provide attendees with relevant information.
Over 100 exhibitors from China, Australia, New Zealand and other countries and regions join in the expo. More than 20 speakers from Alibaba Group's affiliates and Australian and New Zealand brand leaders attended the AliExpo Business Conference.
Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group, delivered a welcome address in a video at an opening ceremony, saying that this event aims to create significant growth opportunities for businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, as well as Alibaba's business partners in Southeast Asia and China.
"Our key focus is to enable local brands and businesses to export to China and other parts of Asia through both B2C and B2B channels," he said.
According to Alibaba, this year's AliExpo is set to focus on "Crafted Down Under, Love Worldwide: Where Australia, New Zealand and Pacific meet Asia," showcasing the importance of international trade and empowering businesses to thrive in a rapidly evolving global landscape, especially in Asia.
Kit Yau, head of Marketing for Australia and New Zealand at Alibaba Group, told Xinhua that Australia and New Zealand are very important to Alibaba, which has used Tmall Global, a leading import e-commerce platform in China, to introduce many health products, beauty products, personal care products, and maternal and child products from the two countries into the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, this cross-border e-commerce platform is a relatively easy channel for Australian and New Zealand brands to enter the Chinese market, because Alibaba can give support to the brands in terms of foreign trade process, consumer group portrait and other aspects, she said.
Besides, Yau said that the middle class in Southeast Asia is growing, and their demands for natural and green products bring a lot of opportunities to Australian and New Zealand brands.
Patrick Mayoh, New South Wales Branch CEO of Australia China Business Council, said that Australian enterprises, not only those with bigger scale but also small and medium-sized ones, can grasp many opportunities by entering the Chinese market via Alibaba's online platform.
China is the largest trade partner of Australia, and the trade and investment relationship between the two countries are becoming better, he added.
