Alibaba coming to Belgium this spring

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba will this year open an 'Alibaba embassy' in Brussels, announced Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma. The goal of the embassy partnership is to bridge the gap between Belgian producers and Chinese consumers, writes Metrotime.

Alibaba.com, the primary company of Alibaba, is the world's largest online business-to-business trading platform for small businesses. Several countries, including Belgium, will have their own niche on the online platform. The main objective of these 'embassies', or offices, is to help Chinese consumers discover the most important culinary and luxury items from countries across Europe.

To this end, the company will recruit 100 Belgians to travel to China in order to become familiar with the Chinese market and the needs of local consumers. Ma also plans to launch its mobile payment system Alipay in Brussels, so that Chinese tourists can travel and shop within Belgium without cash.

The Brussels office could open as early as May.