A large business promotional event, "Connecting Shandong with Fortune Global 500 & Deepening Shandong-North America Cooperation" was held on Sept 29 in Jinan, capital of Shandong province via both online and offline channels.

Government officials, as well as representatives of American and Canadian Fortune 500 companies, well-known business associations and economic promotion agencies took part in the event, which had sub-venues across Shandong's 16 cities.

A large business promotional event, "Connecting Shandong with Fortune Global 500 & Deepening Shandong-North America Cooperation" is held on Sept 29 in Jinan. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

During his speech, Yang Dongqi, deputy Party secretary of Shandong, spoke about the province's social and economic development as well as its business advantages.

Yang said that the United States and Canada are important economic and trade partners of Shandong, and their cooperation has huge potential and broad prospects.

From January to August this year, Shandong's imports and exports with the United States increased by 54.8 percent year-on-year, while its imports with Canada increased by 33.7 percent year-on-year to 3.4 billion yuan ($525.98 million), said Yang, adding that more than 1,600 American and Canadian enterprises have achieved good development in Shandong, and a number of Shandong enterprises have also invested in North America.

Yang hope that Shandong and North America will work together to promote friendly relations, strengthen mutual trust and deepen cooperation.

During his online speech, Michael Loparco, executive vice president and CEO of Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) at Jabil, expressed his gratitude to the Shandong government for supporting the company's branch in Weihai.

"Jabil is one of the world's three largest EMS companies, with more than 100 plants around the world, and the Weihai industrial park is one of Jabil's most important manufacturing operations," said Loparco.

"With the support of Shandong governments at all levels, our branch in Weihai quickly put into production and expanded the capacity of laser printers to 10 million units per year, creating over 3,000 employment opportunities."

He said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Weihai helped the company solve problems related to the shortage of raw materials, logistics and labor.

"We've seen huge investment opportunities and development prospects in Weihai, and will further our investments and bring more product lines into Weihai," said Loparco.

A total of 17 projects, with investments worth $1.17 billion and contracted foreign investment of $340 million, were signed during the event. These projects mainly involve equipment manufacturing, new-generation information technology, new materials, medical care and health, modern efficient agriculture, modern finance, modern service industry, modern logistics and other fields.

According to customs statistics, in the first eight months of this year, Shandong's import and export to North American countries reached 234.96 billion yuan, up 47.8 percent year-on-year, 9 percentage points higher than the overall growth of Shandong's foreign trade in the same period.