Cargo is loaded onto ships at Qingdao Port in Shandong province in July. [Photo/ZHANG JINGANG/FOR CHINA DAILY]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become Shandong's largest trading partner and export market, according to Shandong officials.

Shandong's trade with ASEAN did not decline in the face of the pandemic and the gloomy global economic outlook. Official data showed that imports and exports between the two sides were valued at 123.47 billion yuan ($18.19 billion) in the first six months, up 16 percent year-on-year, 19.2 percentage points higher than the provincial average growth rate.

In the first half of the year, 63 projects funded by ASEAN enterprises were approved in Shandong, with paid-in foreign capital valued at $340 million, an increase of 96.5 percent year on year.

ASEAN is the number one destination for investment from Shandong, which has invested in all 10 ASEAN member countries.

One quarter of Shandong's total overseas investment is in ASEAN, reaching a value of $870 million.