More doors for global e-commerce

Whether it's a small company or young entrepreneurs with little business experience, more people will be able to conduct trade across the world in a way they could only have dreamed about. That's if China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has its way.

The company, based in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, has pledged to knock down trade barriers and allow small - and medium-sized enterprises everywhere to participate more easily in global commerce via the establishment of the Electronic World Trade Platform, also known as the eWTP, a concept envisioned by Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma early last year.

"With this flow of information ... all manufacturers and brands, regardless of size and as long as their products are good and they provide a good service, will have an equal opportunity to enter the consumer market," Daniel Zhang, Alibaba's CEO, said.