Three New Additions to the "Circle of Friends" in 24 Hours! SCODA Speeding Up in Making Friends Overseas
The repeated COVID-19 resurgence globally has suspended face-to-face international exchanges.
But the international exchanges at SCODA have been activated rather than stopped.
On the afternoon of April 29, SCODA signed memorandums of cooperation with the Jizzakh Free Economic Zone of Uzbekistan and Mogrino Special Economic Region of Russia respectively.
These are two new additions to the circle of friends of SCODA after it signed the memorandum of economic and trade cooperation with the Vitebsk Free Economic Area of Belarus on the afternoon of April 28. Three new friends in less than 24 hours, SCODA has indeed sped up in making friends overseas!
SCODA Signed a Memorandum of Economic and Trade Cooperation with the Vitebsk Free Economic Area of Belarus
It was introduced that, this time all memorandums were signed with SCO countries, namely Belarus, Uzbekistan and Russia. As the sole demonstration area in China dedicated to local economic and trade cooperation with SCO countries and Belt and Road countries, SCODA is committed to strengthening local economic and trade ties with SCO countries. SCODA's interactions and exchanges with SCO countries, have been frequent and close, laying a solid foundation for cooperation.
The successfully signing of memorandums comes naturally thanks to the previous cooperation.
Take the Mogrino Special Economic Region of Russia as an example. Li Gang, Executive Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of SCODA introduced that, since the onset of its construction, SCODA has been actively exploring a new path and new model for the local economic and trade cooperation with Russia. SCODA has organized over 30 economic and trade dialogues with cities including St. Petersburg and Perm of Russia, and signed memorandums of friendly cooperation with nine industrial parks and industry associations such as Arlabga Special Economic Area. It has also successfully hosted events such as the Finals of the 1st China-Russia Youth Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Creativity Competition. In 2021, SCODA's trade volume with Russia grew by 161.3%, accounting for 60% of its trade volume with SCO countries.
"We are accelerating building Ruyi Lake Commercial Complex project, actively promoting the construction of platforms such as the International Energy Exchange, China-Russia Mechanical and Electrical Industrial Park and China-Russia Center, and continuously deepening the cooperation with Russia in bulk commodity, agriculture, energy, digital economy and industrial park construction, etc. All these have laid a solid foundation for bilateral exchanges, serving as the backbone of the cooperation, and providing platforms and the future direction for further enhancing cooperation."
All sides held high expectations for signing these memorandums of cooperation. We hope to take this opportunity to give full play to each other's advantages, further locate the sweet spot for exchanges and cooperation, and explore more cooperation opportunities.
SCODA Signed a Memorandum of Friendly Cooperation with the Jizzakh Free Economic Zone
Jizzakh Free Economic Zone of Uzbekistan was established according to the presidential decree of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Its main tasks and activities include attracting direct investment for the establishment and effective operation of modern high-tech and innovation industries, and creating the new industries of mineral resources and deep processing of agricultural raw material.
Nurkin Mamazanov, the Economic and Trade Counselor of the Uzbekistan Embassy in China witnessed online the signing of the memorandum of cooperation between SCODA and Jizzakh Free Economic Zone. He hoped that this platform could better facilitate exchanges of opinions and information on project cooperation, thus further promoting broader cooperation in more areas. "We would like to take the opportunity of the event to further strengthen communication and exchange, continue to join hands in exploring more cooperation paths, consolidate regional cooperation, and carry out pragmatic cooperation in fields of trade, manufacturing investment and finance."
Zhang Hongping, Chairman of Xinjiang Asia-Europe International Material Trade Center Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Asia-Europe Trade Service Co., Ltd., hoped to leverage the advantages of the platform of SCODA, actively expand the economic and trade cooperation with SCO countries and Belt and Road countries, and seek breakthroughs in areas of investment and procurement among other fields.
As a pivotal platform for raising Qingdao's level of opening up, SCODA keeps a firm grip on the pandemic control and prevention and socio-economic development. SCODA has organized the online dialogue with foreign diplomats in China themed "Meeting SCODA on the cloud for common development", thematic events themed "Sister City Cooperation for a Shared Future" and regular measures, and is able to achieve breakthroughs despite the impact of COVID-19, maintaining frequent people-to-people exchanges and untethered international communication.
Taking the thematic event of "Sister City Cooperation for a Shared Future" as an example, since its launching in 2021, SCODA has organized 54 events with 37 cities and industrial parks from 14 countries under this theme, and thanks to those events, Qingdao has established sister city relationships with 4 cities and friendly cooperative cities relationships with 7 cities from SCO countries.
Li Gang said that SCODA would uphold the philosophy of coordinating the whole city, strengthen the pioneering and demonstrative role of the core area, work strenuously to build the core area of SCODA into a bridge for Qingdao's resources to couple with SCO countries, and an exhibition area for fruits of in-depth cooperation, thus bringing opportunities for global investors and yielding breakthroughs for building a new platform for Belt and Road international cooperation.