[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As the rotating president of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China will hold an SCO Qingdao Summit in June this year, which will be the first summit after the SCO's expansion.

The summit is one of the most important of China's home-based diplomatic activities in 2018. It is an international event with global influence and will be hosted by Shandong. In recent years, Shandong has implemented more active and open initiatives to encourage rapid development of the open economy.

The First Gwadar International Product Fair was held at Linyi Mall in Gwadar, Pakistan, in January, which attracted nearly 130 companies from China and Pakistan. The overseas shopping mall is playing a huge role.

Gwadar is a small fishing village in Pakistan's southwest. Located near the throat of the Persian Gulf, it is the closest seaport for the landlocked countries of Central Asia including Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Three years ago, Linyi Mall rented land near Gwadar Port and invested 500 million yuan to build an overseas mall, making it a place for global shopping as well as a fully functional regional international trade logistics center.

"In addition to its natural geographical location and free trade zone preferential policies, what we value is the construction of the China-Pakistan economic corridor," said Zhuang Weiguo, director of the Economic and Trade Development Bureau of the Linyi Shopping Mall Management Committee.

Since the establishment of the SCO, its circle of friends has continued to expand. It has also attracted many Shandong companies to seek new business opportunities in member countries. Weichai India branch is the first factory built by Weichai in a foreign country. Through this plant, Weichai has successfully introduced marine products, hydraulic products and high-power generator sets into the South Asian market and achieved historic breakthroughs. Weichai has built 30 service stations in the region. The company’s sales service network of ship machines covers the Indian coastline and its market share has reached 45 percent.