ALIBABA Group chairman Jack Ma is in town, and he will be meeting with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

Sources said the Chinese billionaire, who is in Kuala Lumpur for the opening of the group’s office in Bangsar South, will visit the prime minister at his office in Putrajaya at 9am. The meeting is to discuss the establishment of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, say sources.

Although the new government has announced that Chinese investments in Malaysia are up for review, Dr Mahathir is reported to have said that this project would proceed.

The DFTZ is a regional logistics hub and Alibaba Group and the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation are partners in the project.

It is worth mentioning that former prime minister Najib Razak had invited Ma to serve as special adviser to the Digital Economy Corporation several years ago, an arrangement that had paved the way for Sino-Malaysian cooperation in other projects.

Meanwhile, the Alibaba Malaysia office will open at UOA Tower in Kuala Lumpur at 12.15pm, today. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng is expected to attend the opening ceremony. – June 18, 2018.