Nanjing, China September 17, 2001 -

Alibaba.com (www.alibaba.com), the world largest business-to-business marketplace for global trade and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) announced today a partnership to bring together Chinese businesspeople around the world via the Internet. The Alibaba.com-SCCCI partnership is designed to create an online community of Chinese businesspeople around the world to help them find quality suppliers, business partners and information related to the global Chinese business community.


The partnership was announced at an MOU signing ceremony on the opening day of the 6th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention (WCEC) in Nanjing, China. The WCEC was first hosted by the SCCCI in 1991 and is now attended by thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs from China and around the world.


"This Co-Branded Site with Alibaba.com will enhance the current capabilities of the World Chinese Business Network developed by the SCCCI and represents an ongoing initiative and strategic move to help Chinese businessmen all over the world extend their reach into the international market," said Kwek Leng Joo, President of the SCCCI.


"We're proud to work with the SCCCI on this exciting partnership to bring Chinese businesspeople together online," said Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba.com. "The SCCCI has a long history of connecting Chinese businesspeople around the world, beginning with their hosting of the first WCEC event 10 years ago. Our jointly-developed website will bring Chinese businesspeople together in the online world and serve as a powerful tool for Chinese businesspeople to stay connected when they return home from the WCEC."


Jointly Developed Website to Unite Chinese Businesspeople At the heart of the Alibaba-SCCCI partnership is a jointly developed website that combines the best elements of the SCCCI's World Chinese Business Network with the e-marketplace capabilities of the award-winning Alibaba.com websites. The jointly developed website, in both English and Chinese, will launch by the end of November and include the following features:


* Alibaba trade leads

* China supplier information

* Product catalogues

* Company lists

* Search engine

* News, company, and trade information for SMEs


& Partnership Mission: link over 30 million overseas Chinese with business opportunities in mainland China and beyond. The mission of the SCCCI-Alibaba partnership is to help bring together the world's Chinese businesspeople online. According to experts, there are an estimated 30-35 million people of Chinese descent dispersed around the world outside China, with 80 percent settling in Southeast Asia. The Alibaba-SCCCI website will provide a new communication tool for these Chinese businesspeople to connect online with businesspeople in China. The jointly-developed website will also provide an opportunity for previously disconnected Chinese Chambers of Commerce around the world to connect with each other to share resources and business opportunities online.


About the SCCCI

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) is an internationally renowned business organization with a membership network comprising 112 trade associations and some 4,000 corporate entities and professionals. It provides an SME First Stop at SCCCI to enable local enterprises to obtain useful and timely information and assistance for their business and runs an eBizcommunity for direct communication and product promotion among members. It also serves as the Secretariat for the biennial World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention and runs an Internet-based World Chinese Business Network (WCBN) for information exchange and business networking for businessmen and entrepreneurs from all over the world. The SCCCI, originally known as the "General Chinese Trade Affairs Association", was officially established in 1906 to look after the interests of the businesses and the welfare of the local Chinese community. The Association's name was changed to "Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce" in 1921. In 1977, the SCCCI was renamed "Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry".


About World Chinese Business Network

The World Chinese Business Network is a bilingual Internet website developed by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry and launched in December 1995 at the 3rd World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention in Bangkok. It has since amassed around 100,000 company listings, the majority of which consist of ethnic Chinese owned and managed enterprises from more than 90 countries and regions worldwide.