Guo Jijun, vice-president of Alibaba

Guo Jijun, vice-president of Alibaba, talks at the World Internet Conference in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

"I would like to thank the Hangzhou local government and non-governmental organizations for the support they have offered  to Alibaba," said Guo Jijun, vice-president of the e-commerce giant, during the WIC.

In September, the Hangzhou government signed a cooperation deal with Alibaba to support the company's technical research in cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, Guo added.

He said that both the Chinese and global economies would move toward digitalization and that Alibaba needs to develop a digital economy-oriented platform to empower other industries.

He commended Zhejiang province for its contributions to developing the digital economy, saying that the province is home to a large industrial cluster and has a strong digital economy production capacity.