Qingdao builds the China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation demonstration area as part of its efforts to respond to China's Belt and Road initiative

QINGDAO, China, July 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of July 24, 2019, a master plan on building a demonstration area in Qingdao for local economic and trade cooperation between China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries (hereafter referred to as "SCO demonstration area") was reviewed and passed at the ninth meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensive and Deepening Reform. The main purpose of the SCO demonstration area in Qingdao is to create a new international platform for cooperation between China and countries and regions targeted by the Chinese government's Belt and Road initiative (BRI), and to expand their collaborations in the fields of international logistics, modern trade, bilateral investment as well as tourism and cultural exchanges. The ultimate goal is to strengthen communications and exchanges between China and SCO countries and promote the further opening-up of China through links running across the Eurasian continent as well as the Indian Ocean by leveraging Qingdao's role in the construction of the New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor under the BRI and in the promotion of marine-based economic cooperation with BRI countries.

The SCO demonstration area in Jiaozhou, Qingdao is home to 17 collaborative projects now under construction with total investment of some 13 billion yuan and 8 projects in the planning stages with total investment of some 5.7 billion yuan. At the busy multimodal transportation center nearby, products are being exported through nearly 100 Central Asia freight trains to the countries and regions along the Belt and Road route.

"With a focus on serving as a model for the country, a platform for the SCO, a springboard for international cultural exchanges and for further implementation of the general opening-up initiative, the SCO demonstration area's main mission is providing guidance on logistics, trade expansion, collaborative efforts to increase production capacity, cross-border development and expanding the cooperation between the area's two industrial parks," said Hao Guoxin, director of the leading group office for the promotion of the construction of the SCO demonstration area. "Construction of the area is also being accelerated so it can better serve as the bridgehead for economic and trade cooperation between China and SCO countries at the local level."

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