马云：互联网应成为全球性公用设施

阿里巴巴董事局主席马云上周二表示，互联网应成为一种全世界都能用到的公用设施。对于联合国呼吁通过电商促进发展中国家经济并且消除贫困的倡议，马云也深表支持。

在联合国举办的一次讨论电子商务与经济发展的会议上，受邀担任联合国贸易和发展会议（UNCTAD）青年创业和小企业特别顾问的马云刚一露面，便成了此次会议的焦点。

马云在会上表示：“互联网应被视为一项公用设施，还应该被视为全球化发展的一项基础设施。将来的一切都是在线的，在线的一切都有数据，而数据将成为创新的能量源泉。”

联合国贸易和发展会议秘书长穆希萨•基图伊表示，今年7月，他和马云将在卢旺达首都基加利与10个非洲国家的总统和年轻企业家见面，敦促这些国家的领导人切实负起责任，帮助这些国家的年轻人口发挥他们的潜力。

马云表示，在他第一次访问非洲期间，他将重点关注如何通过电子支付促进当地的包容性和可持续发展，同时也将关注教育和环境保护问题。

作为一名中国公民，马云还表示，他此行将带领一支庞大的中国企业家代表团，赴非洲寻找商业和合作机会。

马云表示，阿里巴巴集团成立至今，已经在中国催生了3300万个就业岗位，因为每个线上商家至少能够派生出三个就业机会。今年一月，马云曾与美国总统特朗普会面，并表示阿里将在美国国内提供100万个就业机会。

此前，一批发展中国家还发布过一份利用电子商务促进经济增长、缩小“数字鸿沟”、帮助贫困国家实现经济发展的路线图。

去年12月，阿根廷外交部长苏珊娜•马尔科拉也在布宜诺斯艾利斯的一次会议上表示，希望世界贸易组织能通过一项新的关于电子商务的规定。

巴基斯坦商务部长库拉姆•达斯特吉尔•汗指出，到今年年底，全球网民总数将达到全球总人口的一半，而发展中国家的网民数量仅占人口的40%，穷国的网民数量更是仅占人口的15%。

这位部长指出：“发展中国家无法上网的人口绝大部分是贫困居民、女性、老年人、受教育不足者和农村居民。”

他还表示，在电商的发展过程中，像数据保护和对跨境电商购物征税等问题是必须要解决的，但电子商务也能够成为“抵御全球化负作用的壁垒”。

另外，这位部长还认为，发展中世界也需要在互联网上抢占话语权。如今互联网的话语权基本被亚马逊、eBay、阿里巴巴等少数互联网巨头以及在联合国安理会拥有否决权的五大常任理事国所垄断了，而广大发展中国家也需要联合起来发出自己的声音。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma said on Tuesday the Internet should be a utility available to the whole world, putting his weight behind a U.N. call for e-commerce to boost developing economies and help fight poverty.

Ma, who advises the United Nations trade and development agency UNCTAD on small business and young entrepreneurs, was the star attraction at a conference on e-commerce for development.

"The Internet should be treated as a utility and should be treated also as the infrastructure of global development," he said. "Everything will be online and everything online will have data. And data will be the energy for innovation."

UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said he and Ma would meet in Kigali in July with 10 African presidents and young entrepreneurs, aiming to persuade the politicians of their responsibility to help their young populations realize their potential.

Ma said his first trip to Africa would focus on e-commerce payment to support inclusive and sustainable development, as well as education and environmental protection.

Ma, a Chinese citizen, said he would bring a big group of Chinese business leaders looking for business opportunities and partnership in Africa.

He said Alibaba Group Holding (baba) had created 33 million jobs in China because each small business online could create at least three jobs. He met U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in January and said the firm would create a million U.S. Jobs.

Earlier, a group of developing countries launched a roadmap for using e-commerce to drive growth, narrow the digital divide and help poorer countries develop.

Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra said she hoped the World Trade Organization would agree a new e-commerce mandate at a meeting in Buenos Aires in December.

Pakistan's Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said only half the world's population would be online by year end—40% in the developing world and 15% in poorer countries.

"The offline population in developing countries is mostly poor, female, elderly, less educated and in rural areas," he said.

Issues such as data protection and taxation of crossbred online purchases must be worked out, he said, but e-commerce could be "a bulwark against the negative effects of globalisation."

The developing world needed a voice, he said, comparing a small group of internet giants, such as Amazon, eBay and Alibaba, to the veto-wielding nations of the U.N. Security Council.