The opening ceremony for the Shandong International Friendship Cities Conference for Cooperation and Development is held in Jinan, capital of Shandong province, on Oct 16. [Photo/sdchina.com]

Shandong province has signed around 11,000 cooperation projects with its sister cities since it first began promoting sister-city relations around the world, local officials said.

The projects, which are worth a total of nearly 600 billion yuan ($84.54 billion), cover a huge range of areas, including trade, manufacturing, education, tourism, agriculture, healthcare, infrastructure construction, and environmental protection.

A group of international conglomerates have set up businesses in Shandong to help promote industrial upgrading in the province, while many Shandong-based companies have been expanding their overseas markets and participating in economic development in other countries and regions.

The Shandong International Friendship Cities Conference for Cooperation and Development began on Oct 15 in Jinan, the provincial capital, and will end on Oct 20. A total of 886 people from 33 countries are taking part in the event.