The five member cities of the Jiaodong Economic Circle, namely Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai, Weifang, and Rizhao, signed a strategic cooperation on June 17 during a video conference to promote financial cooperation throughout the region.

The five member cities of the Jiaodong Economic Circle sign an agreement to promote financial cooperation throughout the region on June 17 during a video conference. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

According to the agreement, the five cities will carry out comprehensive strategic cooperation in financial services for the real economy, expand financial opening up, and promote financial reform and innovation.

Financial resource aggregation, cooperation among financial institutions, coordination of financial supervision, and cultivation of financial talent will be key priorities.

The five cities will utilize existing platforms such as the Qingdao Blue Ocean Equity Exchange, the Qingdao Capital Market Service Base, and the Global (Qingdao) Venture Capital Conference to hold project-matchmaking events both online and offline, promote emerging industries such as industrial internet amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and accelerate the replacement of old growth drivers with new ones.

The eastern coastal city of Qingdao [Photo/WeChat account: qdfbwx]

The five cities also plan to establish the Jiaodong Peninsula Industrial Development Fund to develop economies of scale and introduce high-quality resources.

The Jiaodong Economic Circle boasts a strong economy and a high degree of openness. It is a pioneer in the regional integrated development of Shandong.

In 2019, the five cities in the Jiaodong Economic Circle accounted for 31.6 percent of Shandong's population, 42.2 percent of its GDP, and 64 percent of the its total foreign trade.