The "Shandong Week · Jinan Day" kicks off at the China Pavilion on March 23 during the ongoing Expo 2020 Dubai in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The "Shandong Week · Jinan Day" of China Pavilion kicked off on March 23 during the ongoing Expo 2020 Dubai in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Feng Yaoxiang, minister of the Trade and Investment Promotion Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Sultan Alhindasi, director general of the Fujairah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of the Abu Dhabi Ports Group attended the opening ceremony online.

"The Dubai expo plays an important role in displaying Jinan's images to the world, deepening economic, trade and cultural exchanges and cooperation with Middle East countries, and building Jinan into a new highland of opening-up," said Yin Qingzhong, vice-mayor of Jinan, during his keynote speech at the ceremony.

Jinan, and the Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are highly complementary in industries and markets, which creates great potential and lays a solid foundation for deepening cooperation, Yin added.

The Shandong Jinan OCT Industrial Co and High Way Travel & Tourism from the United Arab Emirates sign a cooperation agreement during the event on March 23. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A series of business exchange activities were also held. Several strategic cooperation agreements were signed among Jinan companies and companies from Middle East countries at the Jinan-Middle East Promotion Conference on Economy, Trade, Culture and tourism.

A total of 26 enterprises from 16 countries including the United Arab Emirates and 34 enterprises from Jinan launched one-to-one online business exchanges at the "Charming Jinan" (Middle East) Symposium.

As part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Middle East countries have become important trading partners with Jinan, the capital of Shandong province in East China.

In 2021, a total of 1,582 Jinan companies did business with the Middle East, resulting in a total import and export volume of 9.7 billion yuan ($1.52 billion), up 60.6 percent year on year.