To that end, and as Ma put it: “The problem with many free trade zones is that they are designed only for big companies…We think there should be free trade zones for small companies: 24-hour customs clearing, if you are below US$1 million exporting to other countries it should be tariff free.”

Meantime, during the broader global trade shutdown around COVID19, trade on the platform went on. Not only was it used to deliver commercial and donated PPE supplies, but it was also used for regular trade, prominently with respect to sale of Rwandan coffee to China. Rwanda’s Ambassador to China noted: “Thanks to the elimination of intermediaries between Rwandan farmers and Chinese consumers, our farmers can now earn an extra $4 for each package sold,” This followed the sale by a Rwandan coffee vendor of 1.5 tons of coffee soon after placing it on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform.

Is there a Bigger Vision?

In a famous online video from 1999 Jack Ma expresses his vision for a Chinese e-commerce company to his then small team. Twenty years later Ma had vastly exceeded those expressed aspirations.

In the same vein, Ma made early public reference to eWTP at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum of June 2016. He is reported to have noted that “In most countries SMEs contribute more than 50 percent of GDP and an even higher percentage of employment.” And yet, he noted, SMEs are effectively shut out of global markets by obstacles, including complex regulations and market-entry regimes that only large companies can navigate, as well as a lack of access to financing. Ma promised that eWTP and its future e-hubs would make trade more inclusive, and in the process also support young entrepreneurs. He promised to establish digital free trade zones – for SMEs – and that these ecommerce hubs would link up markets around the world. In doing so, eWTP would also help to write the rules for digital world trade.

COVID19 has pushed forward the eWTP digital trade revolution

During the COVID19 shutdown of 2020, e-commerce became far more important as a result of traditional shopping being largely reduced to no-contact deliveries. Concurrently, the world woke up to a realisation that PPE manufacturing capacity, including of medical gloves and gowns, was centred in China. Jack Ma quickly took on the role of entrepreneur and philanthropist in seeing that these were delivered to those in need, initially in Asia, Africa and Europe especially – via eWTP.

Rwanda and Ethiopia played a critical role in the distribution of donated PPE during COVID19 in Africa. Those PPE supplies were delivered first to Ethiopia and Rwanda, from where they were delivered to other countries in Africa. Such was Ethiopia Air’s fundamental role therein, that Alibaba and Ethiopia Air have since signed a partnership agreement to deepen the equivalent ecommerce logistics partnership into the future.

Looking Forward

The title of the earlier mentioned WTO Open Forum panel, “E-commerce 2030: enabling an inclusive future for e-commerce” may indicate Ma’s timeframe. That is, by 2030 global trade may have been revolutionised to comprise something closer to a global matrix of artificial-intelligence-driven, digital-currency-supported, and SME-sales dominated trade. The importance of e-hubs will perhaps depend how the aims of these have been normalised beyond the e-hubs and into the broader economy, and their relative efficiency and logistics role therein.

The more abstract rules that govern the underlying digital trade ecosystem will, implicitly, be shaped between times. Whether in Hangzhou or Geneva, or elsewhere again, will in part depend on whom is selected as the incoming next Director General of the WTO, and this person’s ability to garner member state willingness to collaborate effectively, and efficiently advance the existing global trade architecture for the digital commerce era.

Further information

2020 China-Africa Digital Trade Week starts virtually.