HANGZHOU: Tech giant Alibaba Group has officially launched its “Malaysia Week”, which it said is aimed at boosting opportunities for Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in China.

The Malaysia Week campaign, which kicked off Friday (July 6) here, will showcase an array of “must-see”, “must-eat” and “must-experience” Malaysian products and tourism across Alibaba's platforms till July 12.

It aims to attract Chinese consumers to buy Malaysian products through its online marketplaces.

The initiative also combines online and offline activities specifically designed to promote and increase opportunities for Malaysian businesses to reach Chinese consumers, and to meet the growing demand for high quality foreign products.

The initiative is part of Alibaba's continued commitment to Malaysia, its first electronic world trade platform (eWTP) hub outside of China, the company said.

This comes amid growing concerns over China-Malaysia relations following the Pakatan Harapan Government's move to review several China-linked mega projects.

On Thursday (July 5), the Finance Ministry issued a suspension notice through MoF Inc for all contracts related to the China-linked Multi-Product Pipeline (MPP), the Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP), and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) projects.

Its minister Lim Guan Eng said in a statement that the MPP and TSGP projects, with a total construction cost of RM9.4bil, were awarded to China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau on Nov 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, the ECRL project was awarded to China Communications Construction Co Ltd as the main contractor.

Update: China contractor confirms it has halted work on ECRL project

During his visit to Malaysia to officiate Alibaba's office in Kuala Lumpur last month, group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma had expressed his confidence in Malaysia.

In a statement Friday (July 6), Alibaba said more than 50 Malaysian brands are participating in the Malaysia Week campaign and will be featured on Tmall, China's largest third-party platform for brands and retailers, during the week-long promotion.

Chinese travellers can also access special promotions on Malaysia's travel and tourism products and services on Alitrip.

More than 30 Malaysian tourism merchants will host special offers on the Alitrip platform for travel products and services, including tour and hotel packages, local attractions and events, as well as shopping and dining vouchers.

As of March this year, there were 2,651 Malaysian merchants on Alibaba.com, 34% more than the 1,971 last November when the Digital Free Trade Zone went live.

Malaysia Week is organised by the Alibaba Group in cooperation with Malaysian agencies such as the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Matrade, SME Corp, Malaysia Investment Development Authority (Mida), Tourism Malaysia in both Malaysia and China, and the Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association.