The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province launched a new platform to facilitate mutual cooperation with Japan on May 19.

Wang Qingxian (right), Party secretary of Qingdao, and Igawahara Masaru, consul general of the Japanese Consulate General in Qingdao, unveil the nameplate for the Qingdao-Japan international business club. [Photo/WeChat account: qdfbwx]

Located in the Qingdao International Economic Cooperation Zone in the West Coast New Area, the Qingdao-Japan international business club consists of a 3,000-square-meter service hall and a demonstration zone for China-Japan (Qingdao) regional development cooperation.

The service hall includes functional zones for exhibition, conference and office work. It will help to boost project match-making and facilitate investment and business from Japanese companies.

The 3,000-square-meter service hall of Qingdao-Japan international business club in the Qingdao International Economic Cooperation Zone. [Photo/iqilu.com]

The demonstration zone for China-Japan (Qingdao) regional development cooperation, which was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, will be jointly designed by Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, a famous Japanese architectural firm, and Nomura Research Institute, a think-tank and systems integrator from Japan.

Focusing on developing material science, energy technology, bioengineering, information communications and modern service, the demonstrate zone is designed to build an eco-friendly, intelligent and open community of shared interests.

The basic infrastructure of the zone is expected to be completed by 2025. Local officials are also expecting the zone to be home to more than 200 enterprises and have an industrial output value exceeding 35 billion yuan ($4.93 billion) by then.

"Proximity to Japan and South Korea is an inherent advantage of Qingdao. Facing Japan across the sea, Qingdao is one of the Chinese cities with the closest exchanges with Japan," a Qingdao official said, adding the Qingdao-Japan international business club will deepen the city's economic and trade cooperation with Japan and foster new advantages in Qingdao's opening-up. 

A total of 20 Sino-Japanese cooperation projects are signed in Qingdao on May 19. [Photo/iqilu.com]