Chinese Billionaire Tycoon Jack Ma Describes Meeting With President Duterte As Perfect

Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma paid a courtesy call before President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacanang on Wednesday, October 25, and described the meeting as “perfect.”

“Perfect…Excellent meeting,” Ma told reporters at the Palace grounds when asked how his meeting with President Duterte went.

Accompanied by Finance Secretary Carlos Domiguez III, Senator Richard Gordon and government officials on his way out of Malacañang, Ma posed for selfies with star-struck guests who were also passing by the main entrance to attend other events.

“It was very good,” Ma said between the takings of photographs.

During the meeting, President Duterte underscored the importance of technology in helping develop the economy and bringing in platforms to boost the mobile technology, Internet banking and e-commerce industry in the Philippines.

Noting Ma’s rags-to-riches story, President Duterte also told Ma that it took him seven years to graduate from high school and that he was an ordinary student all throughout his younger years, but he eventually got a law degree and became President.

President Duterte also narrated that he has not been tech savvy and has only lately started to text.

Ma, a former school teacher turned technology giant in China, expressed his intent to invest in the Philippines by tapping the youth using Internet and mobile service as a platform for free trade.

In an interview, Senator Gordon described the meeting as “very good,” adding that the Chinese billionaire spoke with vision by involving young people as he gears up his companies for expansion to the Philippines and the rest of the world.

The 53-year-old Chinese tycoon is currently in the country to deliver a talk in the De La Salle University.

Ma is the world’s 23rd richest man according to Forbes Magazine, with an estimated net worth of $38.3 billion.

He has a controlling stake in Internet marketplace Lazada, which has up to 10 million customers in the Philippines, and his Ant Financial also forged a strategic partnership with Globe Telecom.

Source: Philstar