The signing ceremony between Hangzhou and Alibaba Group is held in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, on Sept 12. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The Hangzhou government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Alibaba Group on Sept 12, with the purpose of deepening their cooperation in digital economy, according to officials.

According to the agreement, the partnership will focus on five areas -- including digital infrastructure, digital technology innovation, digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, digital financial services and digital city construction.

As the birthplace of Alibaba, Hangzhou will support Alibaba's technology research and development in the fields of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, while the tech giant will help Hangzhou to take the lead in the national digital economy by leveraging its advantages in digital technology and business infrastructure.

Over the past two decades, Alibaba has evolved into China's e-commerce giant and helped to reshape Hangzhou's digital economy ecosystem, said Zhou Jiangyong, Party chief of Hangzhou.

He said he hoped the alliance could join hands to build a shared future of government and enterprises and make Hangzhou the foremost city in the national digital economy.

Zhang Yong, president and CEO of Alibaba Group, said that the existing cooperation between the two sides had expanded from e-commerce to finance, logistics, cloud computing and big data.

He added that Alibaba would help Hangzhou enter into the digital era by advancing its industrial development, urban public services and urban comprehensive management, among other things.