From January to July this year, Shandong's actual outbound investment reached 36.41 billion yuan ($5.34 billion), a year-on-year increase of 50.2 percent, according to the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce.

During this period, the province's actual investment in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 10.54 billion yuan, up 75.3 percent year-on-year and accounting for 29 percent of its actual outbound investment.

In the first seven months of the year, Shandong's 13 foreign economic and trade cooperation zones included in the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce completed 1.86 billion yuan in investment and generated 4.02 billion yuan in exports.

The zones also signed agreements for 69 major projects costing a total of 29.66 billion yuan.