The coastal city of Weihai, Shandong province has maintained close economic and trade ties with Japan and South Korea, according to local officials.

"In recent years, our investment in Weihai has been increasing and our development accelerating. This is mainly due to the fact that the local government has created a great business environment, which has solved many practical difficulties for us and alleviated our concerns," said Zou Xuelu, president of Hoya Optical Technology (Weihai) Co, a branch of Hoya Corp, a Japan-based company that manufactures optical products.

Zou made the remarks during the Weihai-Japan Economic and Trade Fair on Oct 27.

Weihai, Shandong province [Photo/WeChat account: weihaifabu]

Weihai and Japan are highly suitable industrial development partners due to their close proximity and cultural affinity. The two sides have maintained close cooperative relations in many fields, including investment and trade, cross-border e-commerce, and service trade.

To date, a total of 120 Japanese companies have invested in Weihai and 1,227 local companies have trade relations with Japan.

In 2019, the value of trade between Weihai and Japan reached 15.83 billion yuan ($2.36 billion), accounting for 11.3 percent of the city's total foreign trade and up 9.2 percent year on year.

From January to August of this year, imports and exports between Weihai and Japan were valued at 10.52 billion yuan, up 9.6 percent.

Japan is also Weihai's largest overseas labor market. In 2019, the city dispatched 5,434 workers to Japan, up 4.5 percent year on year.

The city also enjoys close economic ties with South Korea. There are 823 Korean-invested enterprises in Weihai, accounting for 57.1 percent of foreign-invested enterprises in the city.

In 2019, the value of trade between Weihai and South Korea reached 43.55 billion yuan, accounting for 31.1 percent of the city's total.

From January to August of this year, imports and exports between Weihai and South Korea were valued at 27.68 billion yuan, accounting for 28.8 percent of the city's total.