Kansas City has been selected to join a 28-city program that helps communities grow their economies through global commerce and investment.

The Exchange is a program created by the Global Cities Initiative, which is supported by the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase. The network produces research, shares best practices and generally tries to help cities help their local businesses grow internationally.

Only a small percentage of U.S. businesses export their goods and services, even though, over the next few years, nearly 80 percent of the world’s economic growth is expected to happen in other countries.

“We’re delighted that Kansas City will be a part of this new network—it’s exactly the kind of innovative planning that is needed to ensure our community’s long-term economic success,” said Nathan Tesmer, vice president of commercial banking, JPMorgan Chase-Kansas City.

“We have a long history of helping businesses connect to global markets, and now the Exchange brings additional resources to help our region’s leaders design strategies to further create jobs and grow our economy through greater global engagement.”

As part of its work with the Exchange, Kansas City—as represented by World Trade Center Kansas City and other pro-business groups—will develop an export plan for the metropolitan area this year.

Kansas City was one of the eight final cities to be added to the Exchange, along with St. Louis, Baltimore, Houston, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Fresno, Calif.

“For the Exchange, we selected metro areas that are committed to expanding their global economic reach by working together to identify regional competitive strengths and increase exports,” said Marek Gootman, director of strategic partnerships and global initiatives at Brookings.

“The eight metro areas selected for this final round represent a growing group of U.S. metro areas that understand the need to embrace the global market to remain competitive in the 21st century economy.”