The Sino-Italian industrial park in Zhangqiu district of Jinan, Shandong province will offer services to Italian companies and talents. [Photo/jinannews.cn]

A Sino-Italian industrial park designed to serve Italian companies and talents was completed in Jinan's Zhangqiu district on Nov 27, becoming the first of its kind in Shandong province.

With an investment of 12 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), the park covers an area of 1.3 square kilometers and is expected to be put into use in May 2020.

Jointly supported by the Jinan government and Italian academy of sciences, the industrial park provides one-stop services for Italian companies in intellectual property protection, patent application and trade finance, professional services to foreign-funded projects, and special incentives to Italian professionals.

To date, the park has established partnerships with 18 Italian industrial parks, six associations, and eight universities. A total of 27 companies are planning to set up operations in the park.

The Jinan government will release a series of preferential policies to bolster construction on the park in hopes that it will boost cooperation between Jinan and Italy, according to Wang Zhonglin, Party secretary of Jinan, at the unveiling ceremony.

To date, Jinan has attracted 32 Italian-invested projects with contractual foreign investment of $17.53 million and actual foreign investment of $18.72 million.

The projects focus on the manufacturing of motorcycle accessories and machinery and the wholesale of mechanical equipment and electronic products.