1st LD-Writethru: China, Russia plan closer e-commerce cooperation

Chinese and Russian companies vowed on Wednesday that they will cooperate more in online business.

On the sidelines of the World Internet Conference (WIC), Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev chaired a roundtable meeting for IT firms.

Medvedev said China is an important partner for Russia in e-commerce, a "young and robust" sector.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma said he hopes to expand in Russia, where his company is already seeing its most rapid growth among all overseas markets. "Alibaba is ready to help Russian companies build a complete e-commerce system," said the billionaire.

"There is great trade potential between China and Russia. This means we can do a lot of things together," he told Russian executives.

According to Ma, Russia can duplicate China's e-commerce success as the two countries share a similar business climate.

Alibaba is making efforts to globalize its business with a focus on AliExpress, its international e-commerce website.

AliExpress enjoyed huge success in Russia during the Single's Day shopping spree last month, with one in every 10 Russians visiting the website and retail sales in Russia topping all other overseas markets.

Another Chinese Internet giant Tencent holds a stake in Russia's second-largest Internet firm, DST.

"Russian companies usually have strong R&D capabilities. Tencent and our Russian partners will focus on the entertainment sector, particularly video games," said company founder Pony Ma.

Russian smartphone maker Yota Devices is planning to sell its products on Chinese e-commerce sites.

Its CEO Vladislav Martynov said Chinese companies are better at commercializing products.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the WIC, President Xi Jinping said China will try to foster more international cooperation in cyberspace and work for common prosperity.

"Closer cooperation in cross-border e-commerce and other Internet-based business could help boost global trade and investment," said Xi. Endi