Queen meets with Alibaba officials at Group HQ in China

AMMAN — Ahead of giving a keynote address at the XIN Philanthropy Conference hosted by the Alibaba Group in Hangzhou on Wednesday, Her Majesty Queen Rania on Tuesday visited the Alibaba Group headquarters, to meet with Jack Ma and Alibaba executives, a statement from Her Majesty’s office said.

On an interactive tour of the Alibaba Xixi campus, Jack Ma introduced Her Majesty to Alibaba’s history and philosophy, advanced technologies, and philanthropic work. After the tour, Her Majesty joined Jack Ma and his executives for a brief on the company’s main initiatives. 

The meeting also included a presentation on the Jack Ma Foundation’s (JMF) education-related initiatives, and Alibaba Group’s cloud training and upskilling initiatives implemented in China.

Queen Rania’s visit to Hangzhou comes shortly after a visit by Jack Ma to Jordan last May, where his foundation pledged a $3 million grant to support the mission of the Queen Rania Foundation (QRF) and its work in education in Jordan. The grant will focus on two of QRF’s initiatives, including Edraak, the free online platform for Arabic open education resources (OERs), and the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA). 

The XIN Philanthropy Conference convening in Hangzhou for the second time brings together 600 participants from Chinese and international philanthropy and charity organisations, as well as VIPs in the fields of science and technology, education, environmental protection, sport, entertainment and media. The first conference, held in Hangzhou in 2016, was attended by UN secretary at the time Ban Ki Moon and former UK prime minister, Gordon Brown.