PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he had a good exchange of ideas on various subjects with Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma at their meeting in Putrajaya today.

Dr Mahathir said this in a post uploaded on Twitter: “We had a good exchange of ideas on a wide range of subjects”.

The meeting lasted about an hour from 9am, Bernama reports, at Dr Mahathir’s office in Putrajaya.

Dr Mahathir told the South China Morning Post the Chinese company was eager to help Malaysia introduce cutting edge technology to its schools and help local businesses in areas such as cloud computing.

Ma is in Malaysia for the opening of an Alibaba office in Bangsar South today. His meeting with the prime minister today was to discuss the establishment of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ), a regional logistics hub, near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, sources said.

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.

Ma is reported to have met with Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for an informal dinner last night. – June 18, 2018.