Chongqing - On May 20, the International Friendship Cities Economic and Trade Cooperation Matchmaking Session, as a sub-event of the 2026 Chongqing International Friendship Cities Cooperation Conference, was held at the Chongqing Foreign Affairs Building. Under the theme “Shared Opportunities, Global Vision of Chongqing,” the event served as a practical platform for precision matchmaking, economic and trade connectivity, and mutually beneficial industrial cooperation between Chongqing and its international friendship cities.

The event brought together 25 delegations from 19 countries. Participating cities included several of Chongqing’s sister and friendly exchange cities, such as Seattle, United States, Pest County of Hungary, Phnom Penh of Cambodia, and Minsk Region of Belarus. At the same time, nearly 80 key domestic enterprises, including Chongqing Mechanic & Electric Group and Seres Group, attended the matchmaking sessions.

Ou Shunqing, Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress, introduced that Chongqing is committed to strengthening friendly exchanges with its partner cities and enhancing industrial collaboration. He highlighted areas such as project investment, production capacity cooperation, rural revitalization, manufacturing, green energy, poverty reduction, and sustainable development, aiming for mutual complementarity and shared benefits. He also emphasized the importance of expanding trade, promoting “Chongqing-made” products to the global market while importing more high-quality goods from other countries to enrich local supply. Furthermore, he reaffirmed Chongqing’s dedication to improving the business environment, fostering an international, law-based, and market-oriented ecosystem, and cultivating new drivers for industrial cooperation.

Chongqing highlighted its achievements in business environment improvement (photo/ the organizer)

During the event, Chongqing highlighted its achievements in business environment improvement, advantages in its opening up, and future directions and needs for international cooperation. Representatives from other cities like Washington State of the US, Wales of the UK, Gauteng Province of South Africa, and Jizzakh Region of Uzbekistan took the stage to present their favorable investment conditions, robust industrial systems, favorable policies and regulations, and cooperation prospects, showcasing their distinctive industrial advantages and investment opportunities. This allowed Chongqing enterprises and delegations from overseas to gain a mutual and comprehensive understanding of overseas cooperation markets.

The event effectively facilitated two-way cooperation channels between Chongqing and its international friendship cities, and promoted resource sharing and complementary advantages. For example, the Washington State Department of Commerce held discussions with Chongqing Mechanic & Electric Group, focusing primarily on transformers and auxiliary equipment, conducted special matchmaking with Yulu Electric Power on energy cooperation, and exchanged views with Chongqing Qiaotou Food Co., Ltd. on specialty food trade and brand going global. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, held talks with New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor Operation Co., Ltd. on the development and cooperation of the logistics industry, leveraging the opportunities presented by the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor to explore cooperation pathways such as expanding trade channels and innovating trade models.

Andrea Chartock from the Washington State Department of Commerce is delivering remarks (photo/Organizer)

Furthermore, Johannesburg, South Africa, engaged in exchanges with Chongqing Transportation & Investment Group on infrastructure construction, sharing development opportunities, and exploring new models of coordinated development. Jizzakh Region of Uzbekistan, N'Djamena of Chad, and Sumgayit of Azerbaijan actively communicated with Zongshen Industrial Group on key directions such as motorcycle manufacturing industry synergy and production capacity cooperation. Gauteng Province, South Africa, deepened trade cooperation talks with the Chongqing Chamber of Commerce for Importers & Exporters. Pest County, Hungary, exchanged views with Star Glory Intelligence on smart manufacturing, technological innovation, and other fields.

Participants gave thumbs up to this event. After this session, Antonio Yung, Envoy of California Capital-Sacramento China Office, said that he was impressed by how Chongqing’s automotive industry applies AI not only from a technology standpoint, but also from a production standpoint. He shared his experience in visiting the Chang’an Automotive factory back in 2020. He said that back to that time, automation was already quite advanced there, but in the last few years, he could see Chang'an become one of the major Chinese car companies that export to the world. So he was very sure that continuous automation utilizing AI and robotics will be a key thing for them to be able to conquer the world market. When it came to opportunities, Yung said, “ I also see quite a bit of opportunity. Chongqing is very famous for its food and tourism. And then I think those two areas are probably very mature, very easily implemented to get more people from Chongqing to California, from California to Chongqing. And those areas, I think, are the easy picking point for the two sides to be able to cooperate.”