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Alibaba, Mail.ru, RDIF to sign memorandum of cooperation on September 11 — source

Mail.ru Group can contribute its marketplace Pandao for selling Chinese goods to a joint venture in the field of electronic commerce, created together with Alibaba and RDIF

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/. Alibaba, Mail.ru and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) will sign a memorandum of cooperation on September 11 at the Eastern Economic Forum, a source close to the parties of the deal told TASS.

"Tomorrow they will sign a memorandum on cooperation at the Eastern Economic Forum," the source said, adding that details will be discussed later.

Mail.ru did not comment on the information. At the moment TASS has no comments from RDIF or Alibaba.

A source close to the talks told TASS that Mail.ru Group can contribute its marketplace Pandao for selling Chinese goods to a joint venture in the field of electronic commerce, created together with Chinese giant Alibaba and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

"Pandao might enter the joint venture," the source said.

Mail.ru Group declined to comment. AliExpress did not respond to the agency's request. At the moment TASS has no comments from RDIF or Alibaba Group.

Mail.ru Group began testing Pandao last fall, launching the marketplace after a couple of months. At the time, Mail.ru Group General Director Boris Dobrodeev said that the group planned to become one of the leaders of the cross-border e-commerce market.

Earlier, TASS reported with reference to sources that Mail.ru Group, Chinese Alibaba and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) were negotiating establishment of a joint venture in the field of electronic commerce.

At the beginning of the year, Head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev spoke about planned joint investments with Alibaba in the logistics infrastructure of the Russian Internet. Dmitriev also reported on the fund's plans to invest in Russian technology projects.