The coastal city of Yantai in East China's Shandong province plans to make continuous efforts to push for high-quality development, and accelerate the transformation of an economic growth mode this year. [Photo/VCG]

A trade delegation from the coastal city of Yantai in East China's Shandong province achieved a bumper harvest when visiting Singapore, South Korea and Japan from March 17 to 26.

The delegation met with 210 representatives from enterprises and business associations, visited 13 Global Fortune 500 companies and transnational corporations, and signed 28 cooperation agreements.

In Singapore, the delegation visited local leading companies, carried out six key projects, and signed 10 cooperation agreements. In South Korea, they met with 61 representatives of well-known enterprises and business associations, and signed 12 cooperation agreements, connected with more than 70 representatives of well-known Japanese enterprises and business associations, and signed 10 cooperation deals.

During their visit, they held some large-scale promotional activities for Yantai's key industries such as marine engineering, modern finance, culture and tourism, and biomedicine.

This year is an important year for Yantai to boost its GDP past 1 trillion yuan ($145.17 billion), and the development of its local industries plays a key role for the city to achieve its target, especially the manufacturing industry.

In recent years, Yantai has moved faster to boost its strength in manufacturing, and set up a comprehensive manufacturing system with outstanding advantages.

The green petrochemical industry, one of Yantai's pillar industries, achieved a total output value of 173 billion yuan in 2022, and is expected to exceed 200 billion yuan this year. Singapore is the third-largest refining base in the world, with its output value of petroleum accounting for 40 percent of the country's GDP. Their visit to Singapore will help Yantai accelerate its pace in the development of the high-end and low-carbon petrochemical industry.

In South Korea, the delegation introduced Yantai's strengths in biomedicine and discussed border cooperation space with biopharmaceutical companies from South Korea.

The delegation focused on deepening cooperation and exchanges with Japanese enterprises when they visited Japan, and sought after in-depth cooperation between the two sides in the industrial chain.