The China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Demonstration Zone for Local Economic and Trade Collaboration in Qingdao has aided both the nation's and Qingdao's objectives for deeper opening-up and international cooperation.

The SCO demonstration zone is intended to support the nation's and Qingdao's opening-up and international cooperation strategies. [Photo/Qingdao News]

The SCO demonstration zone has been working to boost international logistics. It has added 13 international train lines since 2020, bringing the total number to 15. The zone offers international freight train services to 46 cities in 18 countries and regions.

In 2021, 621 freight trains operated in the SCO demonstration zone, up 54.9 percent from the previous year. The zone is constructing a Belt and Road international logistics corridor that will connect Japan, South Korea, and the Asia-Pacific in the east, Central Asia and Europe in the west, ASEAN and South Asia in the south, and Mongolia and Russia in the north.

The SCO demonstration zone is also building a modern trade center. It is home to more than 1,700 trading entities, and has introduced and nurtured 10 trading platforms and four cross-border e-commerce platforms.

A freight train loaded with machinery, construction materials and other goods leaves Qingdao, Shandong province, on July 5, 2021. It set out for Dushanbe, Tajikistan. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Official statistics show that in 2021, the total import and export volume of the SCO demonstration zone reached 26.5 billion yuan ($4.19 billion), with a year-on-year growth of 61.8 percent.

Its trade volume with SCO members increased from 850 million yuan in 2019 to 4 billion yuan in 2021. Its two-way investment with SCO countries increased from $400,000 in 2020 to $21 million in 2021.

The SCO demonstration zone has beefed up efforts to attract high-quality projects. Since 2020, it has introduced a total of 50 projects with a total investment of 171.5 billion yuan, including eight from Fortune 500 firms and seven from China's Top 500 companies.