Ships get ready for their voyages in the foreign trade container terminal of Qingdao port in Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping / For China Daily]

JINAN - The port city of Qingdao, eastern China's Shandong province, saw robust trade in 2019, according to an annual session of the provincial people's congress Sunday.

It is estimated that Qingdao's GDP rose about 6.5 percent and the import and export of commodity grew about 11 percent in 2019. The construction of the demonstration zone for local economic and trade cooperation with the SCO was accelerated, with 38 construction projects launched and a total investment of 22.3 billion yuan ($3.25 billion).

Its total trade volume with member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) grew 15.4 percent year-on-year.

In 2019, Qingdao Port's cargo throughput exceeded 600 million tons, and its container throughput surpassed 21 million standard containers.

The SCO was established in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017. Since Qingdao hosted the SCO summit in June 2018, trade between Shandong and SCO countries has grown rapidly.