China e-commerce giant Alibaba and Italian government have signed deal to promote and fast track sales of Italian brands in China.

As part of the agreement, Italian businesses will open virtual stores on Alibaba-owned Tmall. Alibaba will aid them with enrollment support, online marketing and customer service support also.

“Through this memorandum of understanding, we hope to make more Italian brands and products available to the hundreds of millions of online and mobile shoppers across China,” said Alibaba Group’s executive chairman Jack Ma.

“And at the same time help Italian brands and companies to directly tap into the insatiable demand from Chinese consumer.”

Last month, Alibaba signed a similar deal with the French government.