One of the 10 busiest ports in the world, Qingdao is continuing along the path to reform and opening up. [Photo/VCG]
Qingdao city – located in East China's Shandong province – has continued to deepen its reforms and opening up, and the vitality of its urban development has reached new highs in the last decade.
Over the past 10 years, it has attracted a total of 374 investment projects from the Fortune 500 companies. The city established 908 new foreign-invested enterprises in 2021, with contracted foreign investment of $21.43 billion ($2.98 billion), ranking it top among China's sub-provincial cities.
Moreover, its level of international relations has also continued to rise, with major international events held in the city including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao Summit and the Third Qingdao Multinationals Summit.
By the end of 2021, Qingdao had established formal friendship ties with 27 cities in 25 countries, and another 56 cities were in friendly partnerships with it. That was up eight and 19 cities, respectively, on the levels in 2012.
At present, Qingdao Airport operates 16 international cargo routes, including those to Tokyo, Los Angeles and Moscow. The airport handled 96,300 tons of international and regional cargo and mail in 2021.
Last year the city's total imports and exports were worth 849.8 billion yuan, ranking it ninth in the country, an increase of 388.6 billion yuan compared with 2012.
Foreign investment continues to expand in the city. One example is Sweden-based measurements technology group Hexagon AB – a Fortune 500 company – which has been expanding its presence rapidly in the metropolis. Hexagon's factory there has become the world's largest production base of high-precision measuring machines.
Overall, plans are for Qingdao to continue its opening up and to accelerate its development as an international hub with global influence.
