After 32 years of cooperation, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become Shandong's largest trading partner and export market, and the two sides will continue to forge closer ties in various fields to create a better future, said local authorities.

In 1988, Qingdao introduced the first ASEAN-based Fortune Global company in Shandong province -- Charoen Pokphand Group from Thailand.

In 1993, Wilmar International, a Singaporean food processing and investment holding company, invested in the Shangri-La Hotel project in Qingdao. The total investment of the project has reached $200 million, with actual utilization of foreign capital hitting $53.66 million.

RGE (Royal Golden Eagle), a global integrated, resource-based industrial group based in Singapore, invested in the Asia Symbol (Shandong) Pulp and Paper Co in Rizhao, which produces high-grade chemical wood pulp, dissolving pulp and liquid packaging and other high-grade cardboard products.

After 15 years of development, this project has become the largest foreign funded one in Shandong. RGE has also become the largest ASEAN company in terms of investment scale in Shandong.

The 21st Singapore-Shandong Business Council (SSBC) meeting is held in Singapore on Oct 31, 2019. [Photo/commerce.shandong.gov.cn]

By the end of last year, there were 594 existing ASEAN-invested enterprises in Shandong with a total investment of $18.14 billion.

In the first eight months of this year, Shandong approved 92 new ASEAN-invested projects, with actual utilized foreign capital hitting $590 million, an increase of 140.9 percent year-on-year.

ASEAN has also become one of the most popular regions for Shandong investors and companies.

By August this year, Shandong's contracted projects in ASEAN nations totaled $15.98 billion, with a turnover of $18.58 billion. ASEAN also accounts for a quarter of Shandong's overseas investment, amounting to $870 million.