Sun Shutao, mayor of Jinan, delivers a speech at the event. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, held a promotional event on Oct 16 to introduce the city to the world at the ongoing 2019 Shandong International Friendship Cities Conference for Cooperation and Development (SDIFCC).

Sun Shutao, mayor of Jinan, delivered a speech at the event.

"Bordering the Yellow River to the north and Mount Tai to the south, Jinan is a culturally significant city with a history dating back more than 4,000 years. The city has long been known as the City of Springs due to its more than 800 natural artesian springs, which when combined with the its many mountains, rivers, lakes and ancient cultural relics, make it extremely popular among tourists."

Sun said that his city boasts rich resources, a strong industrial foundation, favorable development environment, diversified market, strong development potential and robust innovative capabilities. According to him, Jinan also has a strong network of international partner cities.

Jinan's Shanghe county, SEGES, a Denmark-based company focusing on farming and farm management, and an agricultural tourism development company from China's Sichuan province sign a memorandum of understanding to jointly build an agriculture and food science and technology park. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At the event, a memorandum of understanding to jointly build an agriculture and food science and technology park was signed between Jinan's Shanghe county, SEGES, a Denmark-based company focused on farming and farm management, and an agricultural tourism development company from China's Sichuan province.

The management committee of Jinan Innovation Zone and Exeter Property Group, a large real estate investment management firm, signed an agreement to build an international industrial park focusing on high-tech supply chains in North China (Jinan).

Sun and representatives from sister cities of Jinan, including Belarus's Vitebsk, Russia's Nizhni Novgorod and South Korea's Pohang, jointly launched the tree of friendship between sister cities.