Springfield, Missouri The Official Economic Development Site for the Springfield Metro Region

Springfield's International Partnerships

The Chamber’s approach to international business development is that relationships can lead to business opportunities. With that goal in mind, the Chamber has established active partnerships with other chambers of commerce in China and Mexico in order to create international business connections for Chamber member companies.

China Partnerships

The Chamber’s China program began in 2004 with an initial visit to several Chinese cities and has continued with trade missions in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Three organizations have emerged as key relationships for our region – primarily due to connections provided by Missouri State University.  Those organizations are:

• Dalian General Chamber of Commerce
• Qingdao Chamber of International Commerce
• Henan Chamber of International Commerce

These Chamber connections and China Trade Missions have created greater awareness among local business and community leaders about China’s rapid development and the growing market opportunities there. The Chamber also promotes educational exchanges for students from the United States and China through a scholarship program at Missouri State University.

International university students here in Springfield also represent a great pool of talent and experience for local companies to consider. If you need help with a particular project that requires language translation or cross-cultural skills, please contact the Chamber for more information on international student internships.

2005 Trade Mission
2006 Trade Mission
2007 Trade Mission
2008 Trade Mission

 

Mexico Partnerships

Springfield and Tlaquepaque, Jalisco have been Sister Cities since 2003. A business and economic development dimension was added to the sister city relationship in 2006 when the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the Tlaquepaque National Chamber of Commerce (Canaco Tlaquepaque) signed a cooperation agreement to:

• Learn from each other by conducting annual exchanges of staff and volunteers; and 
• Promote business connections between members of both Chambers.

Chambers sign cooperation agreement (2006)
Springfield delegation visits Tlaquepaque (2006)
Springfield delegation visits Tlaquepaque (2007)
Tlaquepaque delegation attends Expo (2007)