Qingdao readies for summit

Zhang Jiangting, member of the standing committee of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, who also serves as Qingdao Party chief, recently said at a media briefing that the preparatory work for the upcoming SCO Qingdao Summit has been mostly completed.

The city will now make the best use of its time before the meeting to "sprint hard" to ensure the city's optimal conditions for the summit are in place.

The 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in Qingdao in June, fixating the world’s attention on this scenic littoral city in China.

The SCO currently has eight member states, four observer countries, and six dialog partners. It has become a comprehensive regional organization with the largest population, the most extensive geographical coverage, and huge potential, and is beginning to play a more active role in regional and international affairs.

Zhang said that Qingdao is now reviewing conference, concierge and reception services, theatrical performances, and transportation in an effort to provide Chinese and foreign guests with the best environment and experience.

In terms of service guarantees, Zhang said that in order to demonstrate current Chinese and regional qualities, Qingdao is forming a strict congruency with international standards and practices and thoroughly improving medical and health care, food safety, transportation services, and support capabilities.

Qingdao has fully availed itself of its existing facilities, renovating all the venues. Utilization after the summit has also been considered in the planning and design of the relevant facilities to ensure efficacy of fund use.

Speaking specifically about the media center of the summit, Zhang said that Qingdao now has a 10,000 square-meter media center capable of accommodating 3,000 people and 15 functional areas for integrated services including media conferences. The center was renovated from an original construction.

The Olympic Sailing Center in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province. [Photo/IC]   

Zhang said that since the commencement of preparation work last year, Qingdao has integrated Chinese traditional culture, the Belt and Road Initiative, and distinctive Shandong and Qingdao features in site selection, venue planning, decoration, and artistic design. The Olympic Sailing Center, for instance, the summit's venue, is a hallmark landscape that embodies Qingdao's integration of mountain, sea, city and bay.

Qingdao, as a coastal city, has always been at the forefront of China's opening to the outside world, and has been designated as the main node city of the New Eurasian Continental Bridge Economic Corridor and the strategic fulcrum of maritime cooperation in the construction of the Belt and Road. Qingdao has accumulatively invested 761 projects in countries and regions along the B&R, with an agreed investment of $9.56 billion.

As of the end of 2017, Qingdao's GDP was about 1.104 trillion yuan ($174.3 billion) and the city was home to more than 140 Fortune 500 companies that had invested in over 270 local projects.

Qingdao has 69 sister cities around the world and has established economic partnerships with 76 cities in China through provincial and national economic and trade organizations.