An online meeting was held on Aug 3 to promote cooperation and exchanges between companies from Shandong province and Russia.

Organized by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shandong Provincial People's Government, the event gathered representatives from the Russian Business Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Commercial Representative Office of the Russian Federation in China, the Solid Bank of Russia and other foreign agencies and enterprises.

Shandong officials from management committees of the China-SCO Demonstration Zone for Local Economic and Trade Cooperation and the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone Jinan Area also attended the meeting.

Shandong and Russia promote cooperation among companies. [Photo/dzwww.com]

Sun Yebao, deputy director of the provincial foreign affairs office, said that Russia is an important economic and trade partner of Shandong province, and the two sides will focus on promoting practical cooperation under the framework of the China-SCO demonstration zone.

The Russian side expressed their hope in deepening cooperation among companies and introduced their advantages, business environment and investment policies.

Shandong companies including Shandong Heavy Industry Group, Haier Group and Xiaoya Precise Machinery then promoted their projects at the meeting.

The foreign offices of Shandong cities like Zibo and Dezhou and representatives of 30 enterprises in industries such as machinery manufacturing, agriculture, science and technology also had in-depth talks with Russian institutions and enterprises.

Shandong has close economic and trade contacts with Russia. Official data shows that trade between Russia and Shandong increased 11.7 percent to $14.8 billion in 2019. In the first five months of this year, bilateral trade reached $5.67 billion.

Despite the impact of COVID-19, bilateral trade has remained stable and is expected to resume growth, local officials said.