A growing number of wild birds have taken shelter in the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Dongying, Shandong province. [Photo/VCG]

Jinan, capital of Shandong province, will host a forum focusing on high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin on July 16 in Qingdao, the host city of the second Qingdao Multinationals Summit.

The forum will invite officials from cities along the Yellow River, including Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, Xi'an, Xining and Yinchuan, as well as cities in Shandong long the Yellow River to talk about mutual cooperation and development in the Yellow River region.

The national "ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin" strategy has brought about new development opportunities for cities in the Shandong Peninsula, officials said.

A night view of Jinan, capital of Shandong province [Photo/VCG]

Cities in the Shandong Peninsula will play a leading role in the promotion of the strategy. More efforts will be made to deepen coordinated development and build Shandong into a green ecological corridor of the Yellow River Basin, a pilot zone for reform and opening up, and a high-quality development demonstration zone

Heze, the westernmost city along the Yellow River in Shandong, saw its GDP increase by 3.9 percent to 348.3 billion yuan ($53.8 billion) in 2020. The city will continue to develop its industrial economy, private economy, and scientific and technological innovation to promote the development of emerging industrial clusters.

Jinan's GDP hit 1.01 trillion yuan in 2020, joining China's "1-trillion-yuan club" for the first time. According to its government work report in 2021, the city set goals of increasing the added value of industries above designated size by more than 12 percent and bringing the value of intelligent manufacturing and high-end equipment industries to 450 billion yuan.

To carry out the Yellow River strategy, Shandong must focus on high-quality development and build a modern economic system to further lift the role and strength of Shandong in the national development strategy, said Cao Tingqiu, director of the School of Economics of Shandong University.