Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chief Executive Office Director O Lam and President of Alibaba Cloud Hu Xiaoming sign the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement to Build Smart City at a ceremony presided by SAR Chief Executive Chui Sai On (2nd R) and the board of directors of Alibaba Group Jack Ma (2nd L), in Macao, China, Aug 4, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

MACAO - Macao and Alibaba Cloud will work together to upgrade the special administrative region (SAR) into a smart city by applying cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI), according to an agreement signed on Friday by Macao SAR government and Alibaba Cloud.

Macao SAR Chief Executive Office Director O Lam and President of Alibaba Cloud Hu Xiaoming signed the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement to Build Smart City at a ceremony presided by SAR Chief Executive Chui Sai On and the board of directors of Alibaba Group Jack Ma.

According to Alibaba Cloud, the world's top cloud computing service provider will help Macao build an AI hub to enhance its municipal administration capability by a four-year program. The first phase will finish a cloud computing center in two years and initiate AI applications such as traffic control, medical service, E-government and tourism promotion.

The program's second phase will start from 2019 and extend the application into such areas as environment protection, custom clearance and economy forecast.

O Lam told a press conference that the SAR government seriously considered the plan to build Macao as smart city with Alibaba and it was a strategic decision for economy development and people's welfare.

She noted that the SAR government chose Alibaba Cloud for its leading position in the industry, advantages in technology and experience in cloud computing, and its global talent pool in many countries and regions including Macao.