Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will help drive Macau's development into a smart city as part of a four-year strategic partnership with the Macau regional government.

Under the deal, technologies from Alibaba's cloud computing arm Alibaba Cloud will be used in upgrading Macau's IT infrastructure to address issues on environmental protection, economic forecasting and customs clearance, Alibaba said Aug. 3.

The partnership's first phase, from 2017 to 2019, will see Alibaba and the Macau government working together to develop platforms and projects in cloud computing, smart transportation, smart tourism, smart healthcare, smart city governance and talent development.

Macau Chief Executive Chui Sai On and Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma witnessed the deal signing in Macau.

Alibaba previously developed the Hangzhou City Brain, an artificial intelligence and deep learning-based transportation management system launched in October 2016 to address traffic congestion in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.