“It’s a Spider Web”: ILSTC Business Alliance Weaves a Multi-Hub Trade Network

Chongqing - “Everybody must understand that the land and sea corridor is not a corridor. It is a spider web,” said Dr Alaa Ezz at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Alliance of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) in Chongqing. 

20 projects, 7 billion yuan announced in Chongqing

Held from 9 to 11 December, the meeting brought together more than 500 business representatives from 18 countries and regions as the alliance works to turn the ILSTC from a transport route into a multi-core trade network.

Established in Beijing in November 2024 by the China Chamber of International Commerce and 18 business groups from 17 countries, the alliance serves as an open, non-profit platform for chambers and industry bodies along the ILSTC. 

Its second annual meeting in Chongqing featured an opening ceremony, roundtables, matchmaking sessions, and site visits, resulting in 20 projects worth over 7 billion yuan (about 970 million USD) in areas such as industrial park investment, vehicle and motorcycle exports, and agricultural procurement.

This year’s meeting delivered a package of tools for cross-border trade. The alliance signed a cooperation agreement with the Organization for Trade Development and Standards Cooperation and launched guidelines for cross-border e-commerce logistics services. 

The alliance also introduced a legal services platform to support compliance, dispute resolution, and contract matters. Its digital trading platform, launched in May, now has 1,025 registered enterprises and has processed 10,928 orders worth 21.191 billion yuan (about 2.94 billion USD). A new “Land-Sea Online” information platform will further provide policy updates and project details.

Two-way trade, investment top ILSTC agenda

For many participants, the priority is ensuring bidirectional trade and investment flows, anchored at hubs along the ILSTC.

“We encourage our members to come to Chongqing, treat the city as a base, take root here and then expand into Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, which are all developing very actively as part of China’s western region,” said Tiau Lai Toh, President of the Singapore-China Business Association and Managing Director of Lian Bee Metal Pte Ltd. 

“Many Chinese companies first come to Singapore, and then we help them go out to Southeast Asia and to the wider world,” Toh said. He noted that at a Sichuan–Chongqing joint promotion in Singapore last year, organizers expected about 120 participants, but over 200 business representatives showed up, leading to numerous on-site agreements.

From a European angle, John McLean, Chairman of the China UK Business Development Centre, said during the opening ceremony that British companies are looking to ILSTC hubs such as Chongqing in an uncertain global business environment. 

McLean cited UK-China trade of about 103 billion pounds (about 131 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of 2025 and fast-growing exports of new energy vehicles from Chongqing. Moreover, joint work on batteries, recycling, and smart components proves that the ILSTC is becoming an industrial and supply-chain partnership rather than just a logistics route.

Dr. Alaa Ezz, Secretary General of the Union of African Chambers and the Chief Advisor of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers, described how Egypt is positioning itself as another key node in this network. 

“So, since January until today, I have had over 500 mega Chinese companies relocating or establishing factories in Egypt, simply because Egypt has free trade agreements with 3 billion consumers,” Ezz noted that these agreements cover Europe, Africa, the Arab world, and the U.S.

Beyond market access, he stressed the potential access to capital. A Chinese company that branches to Egypt could “become an Egyptian company, eligible to over 22 billion dollars of grants, technical assistance, and soft loans” from multilateral and regional lenders, including the World Bank, IFC, the European Investment Bank, Arab Funds, the African Development Bank, and Afreximbank.