China’s internet tycoon Jack Ma has been appointed as the Malaysian government’s digital economy adviser, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Friday (Nov 4).

PM Najib made the announcement when launching the Alitrip Malaysia Tourism Pavilion, an e-commerce platform for tourism during his week-long official visit to China.

Ma, who is the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, had paid a courtesy call on Najib and spent about half an hour with the Prime Minister before both of them adjourned to the launching ceremony.

Alibaba Group is a Chinese e-commerce company which owns the Taobao online marketplace among other businesses. It claimed the record for largest US-listed initial public offering in 2014.

CNA