MIES - FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member Patrick Baumann on Saturday welcomed a delegation of Alibaba Group - China's biggest online commerce company - headed by its Executive Chairman, Jack Ma.

The two parties held productive talks as they look to team up in the best possible way to promote basketball in China, in view of the 2019 Basketball World Cup, and worldwide.

"We are working together to develop a long-term partnership to promote the sport of basketball globally. We certainly hope that today's dialogue between Alibaba and FIBA will help to establish a global strategy in the future," said Dazhong Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Sports Group, Alisports.

Dazhong Zhang (CHN), CEO of Alibaba Sports Group, and Patrick Baumann (SUI), FIBA Secretary General

"We had very good, healthy and constructive talks between Mr Ma and Mr Baumann, especially about how to best promote the sport of basketball. The two gentlemen reached an understanding that promoting the sport today to young people will provide a better tomorrow for future generations and the Alibaba online platforms and extensive network of partners and consumers can become an essential tool to achieve that."

"Alibaba promotes health and happiness. These are the main themes that it advocates and we would really like to help 990 million fans globally be more involved in the sport of basketball and promote it down the line," continued Mr Zhang. "FIBA has done a lot for basketball fans all over the world and especially for Chinese fans. We're certainly looking forward to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup taking place in China."

Alibaba, Alisports and FIBA will continue in the upcoming days their discussions to finalise a strategic, long-term comprehensive partnership on a number of topics across FIBA's various assets in Europe, Asia and worldwide.

FIBA