Shandong: deepening ties with SCO member states

On May 28, 32 representatives from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Workers’ Skills Development Exchange Camp arrived in Jinan, Shandong province prior to the SCO Qingdao summit. 

In the following two days, they visited the enterprises, universities and colleges of Shandong province and exchanged ideas on workers’ skills training and the cultivation of craftsmanship spirit.

In recent years, Shandong province, guided by the Shanghai Spirit and the Belt and Road Initiative, has embraced the world with open arms to implement more proactive opening-up measures. 

Shandong province will constantly write a new chapter in the process of building a community of shared future for the mankind and co-constructing beautiful homes through enhancing the awareness of the SCO as a big family, strengthening cooperation with SCO member states, integrating itself into the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and promoting economic and people-to-people exchanges in all respects. 

Shandong province and SCO member states complement each other seamlessly in economy and trade. It meets the common aspirations to deepen the opening-up policy in all respects and pave a broad road of opening-up, connection and mutual benefit.

According to the department of commerce of Shandong province, Shandong has proactively enhanced its alignment with the international openness situation and integrated itself into the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative to promote further cooperation with SCO member states and steadily advance the cooperation in economy and trade. The total imports from SCO member states was up to 14.05 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) in the first quarter of this year.

“As SCO cooperation mechanism has been consolidated, the trade cooperation between Shandong Province and SCO member states promises a broad prospect with great growth potential in infrastructure connectivity and unimpeded trade,” said Shi Qidong, deputy director of the Asian affairs office of the department of commerce of Shandong province.

Shandong province, especially for Qingdao, has actively dovetailed with national needs to focus on planning and advancing the construction of international land and sea trade corridors, projecting Qingdao Eurasian Industrial Park and establishing a demonstration zone for China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation. Taking Shandong province (or Qingdao) as the “sea gate” of the relevant countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Central Asia region and the bridgehead of Asian-Pacific countries including Japan and Korea to deliver their products into Central Asia region and covering Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe regions, it has been fostered to become the international logistics corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative local economic and trade cooperation.

“Shandong’s opening-up policies have attracted more high-level talents from SCO member states to start business and study. Some of them have assisted their employers to work towards key technological breakthroughs and boost the innovation advancement. Some have devoted themselves into discipline construction, teaching reform and urgently required talents training. Some have played an active role in the construction of economic and cultural powerhouse as a bridge to facilitate cooperation and exchanges among states,” said Zhang Zhuxiu, director general of Shandong provincial administration of foreign experts affairs. 

The data from Shandong provincial administration of foreign experts affairs indicated that, up to now there have been 40,000 foreign talents a year launching innovation and entrepreneurship in Shandong. More than 2000 talents working in Shandong province come from SCO member states. There are three experts being introduced under Thousand Talents Plan-the Recruitment Program of Global Experts, one foreign expert receiving the Chinese Government Friendship Award, four receiving Qilu Friendship Award, 22 foreign experts receiving the “Shandong Province Double Hundred Talent Plan” prize which accounted for 23 percent of the total amount of foreign experts. They mainly study in fields such as mechatronics, biomedicine and modern agriculture, etc. 

“I have worked for four years in Shandong province and I am convinced that the cooperation pattern between Russia and Shandong Academy of Sciences is filled with energy. I believe our cooperation is conducive to developing more programs in the field of high technology which will boost mutual trust and cooperation between the two peoples,” said Anatoly Maltsev, a senior expert from Russian Academy of Sciences.

With the SCO Qingdao summit around the corner, international students from member states have expressed their expectations and good wishes. [Photo/iqilusdtv]