```Outbound Chronicles | China's Overseas Industrial Parks: A Shining Emblem of Economic Cooperation```

I am now using drip irrigation technology to irrigate cotton, so that the water can directly reach the roots of the cotton, saving not only time, but also water and manpower. After coming to work in the park, my income has doubled. "Uzbekov, a cotton farmer employed in the Uzbekistan Modern Agricultural Technology Demonstration Park of the SCO Agricultural Base, was inspecting the cotton planting situation while sharing his joy. Stories like this are unfolding in dozens of Chinese overseas industrial parks around the world.

As an important carrier for China to share development opportunities with the world, China's overseas industrial parks have become a link for international production capacity cooperation. Currently, there are over 70 overseas industrial parks jointly built by Chinese enterprises and other governments and enterprises. As of the end of June 2024, the overseas economic and trade cooperation zones included in the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce have covered 46 countries worldwide, with a cumulative investment of nearly 80 billion US dollars and creating over 550000 job opportunities for the local area. China's overseas industrial parks are becoming a shining "Chinese business card" in foreign economic cooperation with tangible results.

Building a Bridge of Mutual Understanding between the People

The friendship between nations lies in the people's matchmaking, and the people's matchmaking lies in the heart to heart connection. The landing of China's overseas industrial parks not only empowers local development, but also builds a bridge of people to people communication. Yekaterina Rodionova, an indigenous resident of the Zhongbai Industrial Park, has a strong feeling about this. The village where she lived used to have no roads or streetlights, and even only one bus per week, making travel very inconvenient. Now, this situation has changed. The park has built roads and installed street lights for the village, greatly improving the lives of the villagers. The park has recruited workers nearby, allowing many young people in the village to work at their doorstep, "said Yekaterina Rodionova. And she herself became a procurement business supervisor of Zhongbai Industrial Park Development Company. She is full of hope for the future of the industrial park, "The park will become a vibrant modern urban area, and I also hope to continue working and living in this rapidly developing park


The same scene is also unfolding in the China UAE Production Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park. Here, Chinese and foreign employees are full of enthusiasm and spirit. As an old employee in the demonstration zone, Mina, an Egyptian employee, sincerely thanks the industrial park for the changes it has brought to his life. "These joint construction projects of the the Belt and Road have created many job opportunities for us and greatly improved our working environment and living standards. For this, I just want to say thank you."

It is reported that the China UAE Production Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park also holds training courses, combining Chinese education with vocational skills training to help foreign students integrate into Chinese enterprises and enhance their competitiveness in the workplace. Syed Shahzaib Ali, a representative of the first batch of trainees and an employee of the park company, said, "Through relevant courses, we can understand traditional Chinese culture, which is beneficial for good communication between Chinese and foreign colleagues and improves work efficiency. He looks forward to the college setting up more courses, continuously cultivating talents, and promoting cultural exchange and cooperation between China and Arab countries

Effectively driving the development of local industries

By introducing high-quality enterprises and exporting advanced technology, China's overseas industrial parks inject new momentum into local industrial development. For example, in the Malaysia China Kuantan Industrial Park, the first settled enterprise, United Steel (Malaysia) Group, has built a "steel kingdom" here, filling the gap in H-beam production in the entire ASEAN region, driving the development of local steel upstream and downstream industries, promoting the development of resources such as ferrous ore and limestone in Malaysia, and driving the synchronous development of local logistics, warehousing and other enterprises.

Zhongbai Industrial Park focuses on cultivating high-tech industrial clusters, with a focus on introducing high-end industries such as machinery manufacturing, electronic communication, fine chemicals, biomedicine, and new materials. According to the website of Today Belarus Daily, Korodeyev, the first deputy general manager of China Belarus Industrial Park Development Company, said, "The industrial park is currently vigorously promoting the development of traditional Chinese medicine and innovative drugs, drugs and medical devices. A complete industrial cluster is forming, and Chinese enterprises will play an important role in it."

Professor Wang Xingping, director of the International Cooperation Research Center for Sustainable Industrial Park Development and Planning of Southeast University, believes that overseas parks have effectively driven local development, promoted China and the "the Belt and Road" to jointly build national resource sharing, and promoted production capacity cooperation. The Economy Middle East website has reported that the China Egypt Teda Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone is considered a manufacturing center between China and Egypt.

Solving difficulties for small and medium-sized enterprises going global

In the current wave of going global, the main structure of Chinese enterprises going global is undergoing significant changes, and private small and medium-sized enterprises have become an important force in going global. However, compared to large enterprises with abundant funds and experience, small and medium-sized enterprises face more prominent risks and challenges in their process of going global. Professor Peng Siqing from the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University accurately pointed out that "after going global, there are still many challenges to truly make profits and achieve sustainable development. For example, there are insufficient resources, financial pressure, talent shortage, compliance risks, fierce competition, platform exploitation and compression of profit space, limited supply chain management capabilities, lack of systematic, standardized, and international management norms and guidelines for internal management of enterprises, and lack of ability and experience for multinational enterprises to cope with complex business environments." It is in this context that overseas parks have become an indispensable strategic anchorage for Chinese enterprises in their process of going global. It provides overseas services for small and medium-sized enterprises by integrating various resources such as policies, logistics, and finance.  

In the China Egypt Teda Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, enterprise inspection teams came in droves, and on-site staff were busy. It is reported that the China Egypt Teda Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone has experienced a peak in enterprise settlement and investment inspections since 2024. As of June this year, 185 companies have been attracted to settle in, with an investment of approximately 3 billion US dollars and cumulative sales exceeding 5.3 billion US dollars.

The enterprises that settled in the China Egypt Teda Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in the early days have also expanded their scale, and the Egyptian Pan Ocean Raychu Textile Printing and Dyeing Company, which produces blankets, is one of them. It is reported that the company is invested and constructed by Shaoxing Leichu Needle Spinning Company in China. When it comes to why we chose the TEDA cooperation zone in the first place, Wang Hongxiang, Chairman of Egypt's Pan Ocean Lechu Textile Printing and Dyeing Company, frankly stated, "We always need TEDA's help when we can't find building materials nearby and encounter difficulties in logistics transportation." Now, the company has invested the profits from the first phase of the project into the 160000 square meter second phase project. According to Walid Jamaledin, Chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone Authority in Egypt, "The Teda Cooperation Zone provides high-quality services for enterprises to take root. The cooperation zone not only successfully introduces Chinese investors, but also serves as a 'go between' for communication between Egypt and China, helping both sides prevent possible problems." (Overseas Network Zhang Yingjie)