(Yicai Global) Dec. 14 -- China must take action to put a stop to funding issues facing privately owned companies that are investing in overseas industrial parks, according to several government agencies.

The country must broaden channels of financial support, encourage the development of overseas yuan-funded business and make visas easier to obtain, spokespeople for the Ministry of Commerce and other departments said at a forum on Dec. 12. The All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce had assembled the agencies and a host of private companies with overseas industrial parks to talk over the firm's financial woes.

Trade cooperation zones and industrial parks in foreign countries have been a popular method for Chinese companies to unite and reduce the risk of overseas investment in recent years, but many of the firms behind them have run into money troubles.

"We had to sell our domestic assets to support our overseas industrial park", said Lu Qiyuan, chairman of Jiangsu Yongyuan Investment, which invested more than USD250 million in the Ethiopian Oriental Industrial Park. When his firm hit a financial wall, it was unable to resolve the issue by re-mortgaging the asset because it was overseas, he added, saying he hopes the Chinese government will bring in partners to help develop trade areas abroad.

Other suggestions put forward by attendees included the government offering support to companies running these parks to go public, as many are qualified to list; and helping with project approval and foreign exchange quotas to steer private money into projects outside of China.

Private firms have spent USD36.6 billion on 113 such projects spanning 46 countries, according to data from the commerce ministry. They had a combined output of USD111.7 billion and had paid USD3.1 billion in local taxes as of September this year. Some 82 of the parks are along the Belt and Road, Chinese President Xi Jinping's master plan for an intercontinental infrastructure and trade route, and made up 83% of the overall investment.

Editor: James Boynton