Song Yongxiang, Party secretary of Binzhou, delivers a keynote speech at the city's promotional event during the Third Qingdao Multinationals Summit on June 20. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Binzhou is offering win-win cooperation opportunities for multinational companies, along with a sound business climate, preferential policies and highly efficient services, according to the city's top official who gave a speech during the Third Qingdao Multinationals Summit on June 20.

Song Yongxiang, Party secretary of Binzhou, delivered a keynote speech at the city's promotional event, which was themed "Opening up, innovation and win-win cooperation, boosting global economic recovery", and highlighted the city's major location, culture, resources, economic development, sci-tech innovation, opening-up, living environment and government services advantages.

Binzhou faces the Bohai Sea to the north and has a 94-kilometer section of Yellow River flowing through the city. It enjoys great development opportunities brought about by key national strategies, including the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin and the Bohai Rim Economic Circle, Song said.

The city boasts a long history dating back 8,500 years and abundant natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, solar power and wind power. It has more than 1,113 square kilometers of unutilized land, and is one of the eastern cities in China with richest land resources, Song added.

Song stressed that Binzhou has developed five pillar industrial clusters involving high-end aluminum, precise chemicals, smart textiles, food processing, animal husbandry and aquaculture.

More specifically, 37 products' output or market share ranked first nationally or globally, and the profits of industrial companies above designated size totaled 60.9 billion yuan ($9.09 billion) in 2021, ranking first in Shandong.

The city's investment in research and development accounted for 3.36 percent of its GDP, also topping the province, according to Song.

Since 2019, Binzhou has partnered with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to integrate industrial development and talent cultivation, promote the transformation of sci-tech research results, and gather more high-end innovation resources in the city.

In addition, Binzhou has sped up its pace of opening-up. It has established economic and trade relationships with 186 countries and regions and is home to more than 250 foreign-funded companies.

Song noted that the city has been listed among China's top 100 cities in terms of foreign trade for five consecutive years. The city has also been working to expand its inland port, bonded logistics center and cross-border e-commerce platform to facilitate "dual circulation".

Binzhou, with blue skies and clear waters, is a lovely city for living, working and starting businesses, Song said.

He highlighted that the local government has ramped up efforts to offer services with "less procedures, shortest time, lowest cost, and highest efficiency".

The promotional event was attended by officials from the State Council, the Shandong provincial government, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Development Research Foundation, and the Center for International Knowledge on Development, as well as leaders from a number of multinational companies.

Twenty-four project deals with a total investment of 27.22 billion yuan were signed at the event, covering industries such as new energy, new materials, high-end chemicals, high-end aluminum, high-end equipment manufacturing, animal husbandry and aquaculture, culture and tourism, modern services, and new-generation information technology.