A US cargo ship docks at the Qingdao Port, Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Shaoyue/For China Daily]

The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province reported a 9.4-percent year-on-year growth in trade with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, hitting 59.7 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) in the first quarter of 2022, according to official statistics. The figure accounted for 30.5 percent of the city's total foreign trade value.

Qingdao has built an efficient logistics system integrating ocean shipping, land carriage, air transport and railage, and made full use of geographical advantages to continuously expand cooperation and trade with Belt and Road countries.

The China-Europe freight train connects 49 cities and 20 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Qingdao has ramped up efforts to improve outbound investment, enhance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and deepen investment cooperation with Belt and Road countries.

In the first quarter, Qingdao enterprises invested in six new projects in Belt and Road countries, with the agreed Chinese investment of $6.35 million. Qingdao enterprises contracted three new projects in Belt and Road countries, with a contract value of $605 million, up 241.3 percent year-on-year.

During this period, eight projects invested by Belt and Road countries settled in Qingdao, with contractual foreign capital of $70.77 million and actual utilized foreign capital of $72.23 million.

According to local officials, Qingdao will build a platform for international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and develop partnerships in logistics, trade, investment, tourism, and culture as one of China's first coastal cities to open to the rest of the world and an international port city.