The coastal city of Weihai, Shandong province has been ramping up efforts to expand cooperation with Fortune Global 500 companies.

In recent years, the city has launched a number of measures to attract high-quality projects from the world's top companies, including high-level official promotion mechanisms for major projects, one-to-one business attraction work teams, and regular visits to the offices of multinational companies in China.

An HP printer production line in the Weihai high-tech zone [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At the beginning of this year, Weihai launched an action plan that further clarified investment objectives and business promotion work for Fortune Global 500 companies, large multinationals, and global industry leaders.

Statistics from the Weihai municipal bureau of commerce showed that from January to May this year, Weihai signed 12 projects with Fortune Global 500 companies and 24 projects with the top 500 enterprises in China.

About 75 percent of the projects involve high-end equipment, new energy, new materials, new-generation information technology, medical care, and boutique tourism, all of which play a vital role in the city's high-quality development.

Weihai Nanhai New Energy Materials Co (SSE) signed a cooperation agreement with POSCO, a world leader in lithium batteries and a Fortune Global 500 company from South Korea in 2019.

"We will become their official supplier and enter the international market after our products pass the pilot plant test," said Li Xianyong, assistant general manager of SSE.

Li said that cooperation with POSCO is expected to generate about 1 billion yuan annually in lithium anode materials, which will facilitate the development of Weihai's new energy industry.