(Yicai Global) March 20 -- Alibaba Group Holding's logistics platform and one of its online retail sites have tied up with Spain's national postal service Correos with the aim of making deliveries anywhere in the world within 72 hours.

Alibaba affiliate Cainiao Smart Logistics Network and cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress inked a partnership deal with Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telégrafos in the Spanish capital of Madrid yesterday, Hangzhou-based Cainiao said in a statement.

The partnership will speed up deliveries between China, Spain and the rest of Europe, and promote the product sales of small- and mid-sized Spanish firms across the world. Under the agreement, Correos will install more than 5,000 parcel lockers near homes and offices to cut delivery times in Europe, which is grappling with a labor shortage, by several days.

In recent years, Cainiao has built a high-quality global logistics network with Correos and other partners, enabling parcels that leave China to arrive in Spain within about 10 days. More than 90 percent of the hottest-selling items in Cainiao's Madrid warehouses can reach consumers within 72 hours.