The ground-breaking and global business promotion ceremony of Qingdao International Cruise Terminal Area takes place in Qingdao, a coastal city of Shandong province, on March 28. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The ground-breaking and global business promotion ceremony of Qingdao International Cruise Terminal Area was held on March 28 in Qingdao, a coastal city of Shandong province.

Despite the impact of and uncertainty caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the project aims to become a core area of China's cruise tourism development demonstration as well as a global platform for international shipping trade and finance innovation.

The Qingdao International Cruise Terminal Area is located at the old part of Qingdao Port of Shandong Port Group, which dates back to 1892, with 9 km coastlines and a floor area of 4.2 sq km. The planned construction area is expected to reach 5.3 million sq m.

The port is one of the few in the world adjacent to downtown area and can berth a 220,000-metric-ton colossal cruise.

Wang Qingxian, Party secretary of Qingdao, said the city aims to turn the centenary harbor into a world-class new port area, offering easy access to talents and businesses worldwide. It is expected to be a new landmark of city's opening-up.

During the launching ceremony, authorities also kicked off the area's business promotion across the globe. A total of 15 projects were inked with an investment of more than 31.3 billion yuan.

The Qingdao municipal government signed a cooperation agreement with Shandong Port Group, collaborating in city-port integration, port facilities construction, shipping industry and environment-friendly and smart port construction.

Shibei district government, where the cruise area is located, inked another 14 cooperative projects with its counterparts in shipping, trade, finance and culture and tourism.

The Shandong Port Group was established in Qingdao last August and integrated the major ports in the province, including Qingdao Port, Yantai Port, Rizhao Port and the Bohai Bay Port Group.