China's business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce giant Alibaba Group still regards the United States as its most important market in its overseas investment strategy, Wei Zhe, chief executive officer of the company, said on Friday.

The group will invest one third of its newly added US$30 million fund for overseas marketing in the United States this year, he told Xinhua during the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia in China's southern province of Hainan, which started on Friday.

"Alibaba plans to double its staff in the United States to further boost its marketing and improve customer service," he said.

Enterprises worldwide need new business opportunities to address the present crisis, which has provided a strong chance for Alibaba to expand its own business, he said.

The group has been developing Indian and Japanese markets in the past year and has set up the largest e-commerce platform in the two countries.

The group also plans to develop trading platforms in other languages such as Spanish, French and Russian, according to Wei.

"We've never considered to acquire or control other enterprises, but hope to help local e-commerce enterprises to achieve success, which in turn brings the success of Alibaba's global strategy," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2009)