The 2019 Sino-German SME Cooperation and Communication Conference was held in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, on Nov 12.

More than 700 government officials, experts, scholars, and business representatives from China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States attended the event to promote industrial innovation and international exchanges.

At the opening ceremony, 26 cooperation agreements between Chinese and overseas companies were signed. The agreements involved biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and the headquarters economy and were worth a total of 15.8 billion yuan ($2.26 billion).

A signing ceremony for 26 projects is held at the 2019 Sino-German SME Cooperation and Communication Conference in Jinan on Nov 12. [Photo by Sun Tingting/chinanews.com]

Construction on the Sino-EU Equipment Manufacturing Town in Jinan was also officially launched at the ceremony.

The conference included a matchmaking meeting for 96 international cooperation projects involving electronic information, aerospace manufacturing, life science, intelligent equipment, and modern services.

"Shandong has placed a lot of importance on cooperation with German companies and the economic relationship between the two sides is tightening," said Sun Jiye, vice-governor of Shandong, at the opening ceremony.

According to Sun, Shandong's exports to Germany rose 9.5 percent year-on-year to 38.48 billion yuan during the first three quarters of this year.

Meanwhile, the province is working to optimize government services, improve its business environment, and offer more preferential policies for investors, Sun added.

The conference, which started in 2015, has achieved its goal of increasing industrial cooperation and technological exchanges. More than 2,150 companies from China and abroad have taken part in the event, and 68 project deals have been signed.

Business representatives discuss cooperation at a matchmaking meeting during the 2019 Sino-German SME Cooperation and Communication Conference on Nov 12. [Photo by Sun Tingting/chinanews.com]