Minister of Communications and Multimedia Gobind Singh Deo said the ministry wanted all small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be part of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) but was unable, at the moment, to extend services to the rural areas due to poor connectivity.

“We will create participation for all. This is a new world trade and a most important trade in years to come. But to succeed we need good internet infrastructure so that we can bring the services to them,” he said during question time at the Dewan Rakyat.

He was replying to Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar) who asked what measures had been taken to introduce digital marketing to rural entrepreneurs.

Gobind said the government would continue developing the DFTZ launched in 2017 to help SMEs create digital platforms and market their products globally.

He said globally thousands of SMEs had taken part in various e-commerce activities and had become global names.

He said the DFTZ would give opportunities to local companies, and not only to big entities such as Alibaba, to expand their businesses locally and globally.

The new Malaysian government had indicated earlier that it would continue with the development of the DFTZ.

This regional hub, which facilitates e-commerce growth and cross-border trade, would be implemented in phases.

DFTZ, launched by the previous administration at the end of last year, is a collaboration between the Alibaba Group and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation.

It is the first DFTZ outside of China.