Belt and Road, Overseas Parks

From the perspective of overseas parks, based on the 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" disclosed by the Ministry of Commerce as a sample, the distribution of overseas parks on the "Belt and Road" shows the following characteristics: the regional characteristics are "widely distributed, small concentrated", widely distributed in Asia, Africa and Europe, and concentrated in Southeast Asia; by economy, overseas parks are mostly distributed in economies with low labor costs, great consumer market potential and rich natural resources, and 10 of the 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" are distributed in Indonesia; by functional type, overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" are mainly processed and manufacturing, agricultural industrial and resource utilization, and the three account for 45.0%, 17.5% and 13.8% of the number of overseas parks along the 80 "Belt and Road".

In terms of trade and investment and financing, under the overdraft effect of "grabbing exports", my country's export growth rate along the "Belt and Road" fell slightly in the third quarter, among which the decline of the trade index with Southeast Asia ranked first among all regions. At the same time, in the third quarter, my country's direct investment growth rate along the "Belt and Road" increased, with the cumulative growth rate rising from 20.7% at the end of June to 23.5% at the end of July.

Overseas parks refer to parks built by the government or enterprises overseas and have functions of foreign industrial agglomeration and foreign economic cooperation. They are an important platform for promoting the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". Based on this, this article analyzes the distribution characteristics of overseas parks in the "Belt and Road" and their influencing factors.

1. Distribution of overseas parks in the "Belt and Road"

In the 1990s, my country's enterprises' "going out" strategy was in its infancy, and enterprises began to explore the construction of overseas parks. In 1999, in order to enter the world's largest home appliance consumer market, Haier Group built an industrial park in Camden, South Carolina, USA (), USA; subsequently, my country built a Lahore Industrial Park and a "Dragon Market" trade center in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, and overseas park construction officially entered its infancy. After the financial crisis in 2008, the government supported the establishment of a national overseas economic and trade cooperation zone. In 2008, the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone was officially launched, and it is a national overseas economic and trade cooperation zone jointly promoted by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Egyptian government. The 2013 "Belt and Road" initiative was officially proposed that overseas park construction was fully linked to the "Belt and Road" initiative, becoming an important platform for promoting international production capacity cooperation. As of the end of 2022, my country has established 125 overseas parks in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, of which 112 are located in countries along the "Belt and Road", with a total investment of 397.9 billion yuan, creating 421,000 jobs for the local area.

The Ministry of Commerce has disclosed a list of 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road". Based on this list, the following article focuses on observing the distribution characteristics of overseas parks along the "Belt and Road".

From the perspective of regional distribution, the distribution of overseas parks along my country's "Belt and Road" covers Europe, Africa and Asia, and focuses on Asia, showing the characteristics of "wide distribution, small concentration". Of the 80 overseas park lists we observed, a total of 41 are distributed in Asia, 25 are distributed in Africa, and 14 are distributed in Europe (including Russia). In the Asian region, a total of 26 overseas parks are distributed in Southeast Asia, accounting for 63.4% of the total number of overseas parks in Asia's "Belt and Road".

By economy, most of my country's overseas parks are distributed in economies with low labor costs, great consumer market potential and rich natural resources. A total of 10 of the 80 "Belt and Road" overseas parks are distributed in Indonesia, followed by Russia, Cambodia, Nigeria, etc. Represented by Indonesia, Indonesia has rich nickel, aluminum and oil and gas resources, and is the largest population economy in Southeast Asia, with low labor costs and huge consumer market potential. my country and Indonesia have cooperated with Indonesia to establish a variety of overseas parks dominated by industries, such as the Sulawesi Nickel Iron Industrial Park in Indonesia, which is dominated by nickel ferrous smelting and metal processing, and the West Kalimantan Aluminum Processing Park in Indonesia, which is dominated by aluminum smelting and metal processing.

Based on the GDP scale of economies along the "Belt and Road", the number of overseas parks in my country in the local area is positively correlated with the economic scale of the economy, and reflecting the market size is also one of the key factors affecting the establishment of overseas parks in my country.

At the same time, overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" are mostly distributed in economies along the route that are closely related to my country's economy and trade investment. That is, the larger the scale of my country's exports and investment to the local area, the easier it is for my country to set up multiple overseas parks locally. For example, among the 80 economies where overseas parks are located, my country's direct investment stock in Indonesia has the highest, with a stock of US$25.48 billion in 2024, ranking first among the economies where overseas parks are located.

In terms of functional types, the 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" are mainly processed and manufacturing, agricultural industrial and resource utilization, and the number of scientific and technological research and development types is relatively small. According to the leading industries and public service functions of the park, the Ministry of Commerce divides overseas parks into processing and manufacturing, resource utilization, agricultural industry, trade and logistics, science and technology research and development, and industrial comprehensive industry.

The processing and manufacturing type is oriented towards providing industrial land and standard factory buildings, supporting large-scale production, and is dominated by industrial manufacturing, assembly and processing; a total of 36 of the 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" are processed and manufacturing type, and representative parks include the Snu Special Economic Zone of Jujing Province, Cambodia and the Qilu Special Economic Zone of Cambodia. Resource utilization is oriented towards raw material mining, smelting and processing, and its core industries are mainly processed and deep processing of oil, natural gas, minerals, non-ferrous metals, etc.; a total of 11 of the 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" are resource utilization, and representative parks include the Sulawesi Nickel Iron Industrial Park in Indonesia and the West Kalimantan Aluminum Processing Park in Indonesia. The agricultural industrial type is oriented towards planting, breeding, processing and trade, and promotes agricultural modernization. The core industries are mainly agricultural production, agricultural product processing, and modern agricultural demonstration; a total of 14 of the 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road" are agricultural industrial types, and representative parks include Laos Cloud Oak Industrial Park, China-Indonesia Julong Agricultural Industrial Cooperation Zone, etc. The commercial logistics type is mainly trade, logistics, ports, warehousing and distribution centers, with the focus on trading enterprises, logistics enterprises and cross-border e-commerce enterprises; there are 9 overseas parks along the 80 "Belt and Road" routes, and the representative parks include the Sihanoukville Port Special Economic Zone. The technology research and development is mainly based on high-tech, R&D innovation, and information technology, focusing on attracting technology enterprises, innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, and scientific research institutions; there are 2 of the 80 overseas parks along the "Belt and Road", and the representative parks include China-ASEAN Beidou Science and Technology City. The comprehensive park combines various functions such as industry, agriculture, commerce, and logistics. There are 8 overseas parks along the Belt and Road Initiative, and representative parks include the Vientiane Saisse Tower Comprehensive Development Zone in Laos.

3. Current status of economic, trade and investment and financing on the Belt and Road

From the perspective of trade, my country's export growth rate to economies along the "Belt and Road" fell slightly in the third quarter of 2025, and the Belt and Road trade volume index fell from 214.1 in the second quarter of 2025 to 213.3 in the third quarter of 2025. In terms of transportation volume, the export container shipping volume index of China (Shanghai) to countries along the "Belt and Road" has risen by 25.5 points to 206.6 compared with the second quarter, and the export volume has further risen. From the perspective of freight rates, affected by the rebound in transportation demand, the Maritime Silk Road freight index rose by 6.8 points from the second quarter to 121.6. By region, my country's regional trade volume index with the "Belt and Road" has differentiated, with trade indexes with Mongolia, Russia, Central Asia, North Africa and Europe, but with South Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Oceania, etc., downward.

From the perspective of investment cooperation, from January to July 2025, my country's non-financial direct investment in economies along the "Belt and Road" was US$22.4 billion, a cumulative increase of 23.5%. From the perspective of external contracting projects, from January to July 2024, my country signed new contracts for contracting projects in economies along the "Belt and Road" were US$132.0 billion, a cumulative increase of 18.2%.

Appendix: Review of the progress of the "Belt and Road" policy

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