Chengdu Hi-tech Zone Expands Its Global “Circle of Friends” with Another International Economic and Trade Cooperation Project

Recently, the Tanzania-China Economic and Trade Investment Cooperation Liaison and Talent Exchange Project (hereinafter, the “Tanzania Economic and Trade Cooperation Project”) officially joined the International Organizations Cluster at the Business and Innovation Centre for China-Europe Cooperation in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone, providing companies in western China with a convenient way to connect with African markets close to home. To date, the cluster has attracted 15 international organizations and 52 international projects.

Using Chengdu as its liaison window in western China, the Tanzania Economic and Trade Cooperation Project serves companies in Sichuan, Chongqing and other parts of the western region. It provides professional services for the Tanzanian and East African markets, including government procurement matchmaking, investment promotion, policy consultation, industrial-park matchmaking, business visits, commercial introductions, project coordination and talent exchanges. These services directly address Chinese companies’ key needs as they expand overseas, including choosing investment destinations, understanding special economic zone policies, communicating about project implementation, connecting with government and industrial-park resources, identifying trade opportunities, localizing talent and facilitating cross-border exchanges. By joining the International Organizations Cluster at the Business and Innovation Centre for China-Europe Cooperation, the project will establish itself in Chengdu as a front-line gateway and core service hub for western China’s investment cooperation with Tanzania and East Africa.

To date, the Tanzania Economic and Trade Cooperation Project has helped several companies from western China establish a presence in East Africa. For example, it assisted a tire manufacturer with research and analysis of the Tanzanian market, coordinated meetings between the company and relevant Tanzanian government departments, and helped the company set up operations in Tanzania. It provided a Sichuan manufacturer’s investment project in Kenya with end-to-end services, including company registration, qualification procedures, land acquisition and factory construction, helping the project take shape in a Kenyan special economic zone. It also helped a Chengdu auto-parts company connect with a Tanzanian government procurement partnership worth about US$2 million per month.

Photo credit: Tuchong

As the platform hosting the project, the International Organizations Cluster at the Business and Innovation Centre for China-Europe Cooperation is a nonprofit public-service platform guided by the principles of “openness, inclusiveness, exchange and cooperation.” Through transparent admission criteria and flexible shared-office arrangements, it provides eligible international organizations, overseas business associations, research institutions and professional-service organizations with a starting point for collaboration and office space in Chengdu. It also encourages participants to draw on their strengths to help companies connect with international resources and identify promising projects, enabling resource sharing and mutual value creation.

To help international partners through the early stages of operation, the International Organizations Cluster brings together the existing service resources of the Business and Innovation Centre for China-Europe Cooperation to create a two-part service system combining basic support with tailored empowerment. Basic services include shared workstations, private offices and shared meeting rooms; customized services include policy briefings, assistance with project applications and cross-sector resource matchmaking.

In recent years, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has continued to improve its foreign-trade services and build platforms for cross-border economic and trade matchmaking. It is advancing high-standard opening-up, deepening the “Chengdu Products Go Global” initiative and helping local companies expand overseas.

In June 2025, five integrated foreign-trade service stations were officially designated in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone: the Business and Innovation Centre for China-Europe Cooperation, Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park, China-Japan (Chengdu) Demonstration Zone for Local Development Cooperation, China-South Korea Innovation and Entrepreneurship Park, and Waizong Yunfu. Their establishment further improved the Zone’s foreign-trade service system, which combines country-specific cooperation with state-owned platforms. Professional services, international channels and resource lists are now available as a coordinated package, injecting strong momentum into the “Chengdu Products Go Global” initiative and creating a faster route for companies going overseas.

To foster innovation in foreign trade and further improve the business environment for foreign-trade companies, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has incorporated national-level service-export bases into its “Foreign-Trade Ecosystem Partners” system. These include the National Digital Service Export Base (Tianfu Software Park), the National Human Resources Service Export Base, the National Language Service Export Base and the National Intellectual Property Service Export Base. Together, they cover areas such as digital-service industry support, talent policies and platforms, multilingual localization, and overseas intellectual-property risk management, forming a comprehensive, multi-tiered foreign-trade service ecosystem.

Photo credit: Tuchong

As international organizations and international projects continue to cluster in the Zone, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone’s global “circle of friends” keeps growing, spanning key areas of foreign-related services such as economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchange. By improving its world-class business environment and using openness to connect global resources and deepen collaboration, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone will make the Business and Innovation Centre for China-Europe Cooperation the focal point of its efforts to develop the International Organizations Cluster. It will provide first-stop services for overseas investors and international institutions arriving in Chengdu, supporting foreign-funded companies and projects while helping local companies expand overseas at a high level, and promoting deeper integration between “bringing in” and “going global”