Barack Obama interviews Alibaba’s Jack Ma

US President Barack Obama took time off at an Asia-Pacific summit on Wednesday for an unusual task — putting questions to Chinese internet billionaire Jack Ma and a young Filipina entrepreneur on government-business ties in a panel discussion.

Mr Obama joked comfortably with the eccentric founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which is looking to make inroads into foreign markets, including the United States.

During the discussion on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila, the US President probed Mr Ma on how he thought government and established businesses could help young entrepreneurs.

“Government is simple - just reduce the tax, or no tax, for these guys,” Mr Ma responded, to a wave of laughter and applause from the audience of business executives.

“You got a lot of cheers from your fellow CEOs,” he quipped in response. Mr Obama also praised the relatively unknown Filipina entrepreneur, Aisa Mijeno, a professor of engineering who invented a lamp powered by salt water. He suggested that Mr Ma should invest in the company of his fellow panelist after she said she was looking for funding to mass-produce the lamps.

“I’m just saying,” Mr Obama said, throwing Mr Ma a suggestive look. “Serving as a matchmaker here, a little bit.” Mr Ma smiled in response. He said Alibaba had been putting 0.3 per cent of the company’s total revenue for the past six years toward encouraging young people to find solutions to climate change.

Mr Ma added he thought it was a “fantastic idea” to invest in clean technology, referring to a recent conversation in which Microsoft Corp’s founder Bill Gates broached the idea.