"Connecting Shandong with Fortune Global 500 & Deepening Shandong-North America Cooperation", hosted by the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee and the Shandong Provincial People's Government, took place in Jinan on 29th September. Business associations from North America, enterprises among Fortune Global 500, as well as guests in Shandong explored new opportunities arising in the creation of a new development pattern online and offline.

"Shandong is our best choice!" said Michael Loparco, Executive Vice President of Jabil and CEO of Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS), at the conference. As a multinational corporation and one of Fortune Global 500, Jabil has made contacts with government teams worldwide, but Shandong's government teams at all levels, especially Weihai Torch Hi-Tech Science Park, is one of the most professional, devoted and efficient teams he has ever contacted. "During the COVID-19 outbreak, Weihai helped our branch solve difficulties in materials, logistics, epidemic prevention and labor, and Weihai's printer industry chain was the first to resume production in China, which is a great feat, so Shandong is our best partner in the world."

"Shandong is a major manufacturing province with tremendous strength in China, I highly recognize Shandong's practice of replacing old growth drivers with new ones," said Charles W. Freeman, Senior Vice President for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC). U.S. enterprises have maintained a strong development momentum in Shandong, he noted, adding that USCC hopes to work with the Shandong Provincial People's Government to expand opening-up, further remove market access restrictions and other barriers, and create a better business environment to attract more U.S. investors to Shandong.

Many enterprises brought investment projects while having heated discussions. Suntech, a world-renowned outdoor sports product manufacturer in the U.S., brought a project with a contractual foreign investment of 20 million U.S. dollars and a total investment of 30 million U.S. dollars. The company will build an outdoor sports product factory in Weihai, to develop and manufacture inflatable paddle boards, tents, outdoor jackets and other outdoor sports & leisure products. With an area of 67 mu and a floor area of some 35,000 square meters, Phase I of the project will achieve annual sales of at least 1 billion yuan at its designed capacity.

"We plan to establish our Chinese headquarters in Qingdao." According to Wang Jun, CEO of JHD Holdings Co., Ltd., JHD Holdings signed a project agreement with Shinan District, Qingdao with a total investment of 50 million U.S. dollars in the event, planning to implement a trade supply chain project (Phase I) in Shinan, which will cover four sectors: supply chain, own brand (Jihuiduo), fintech and data collection and analysis. "Through a self-built warehousing and logistics system, we will develop a platform integrating new retail with value-added services, to provide commodity, supply chain, payment and value-added services to independent retail stores and supermarkets in the Chinese sinking market," he said, putting the sales in 2022 at 2 billion yuan.

14 cities signed 17 key foreign investment projects at the conference, with a total investment of 1.17 billion U.S. dollars and a total contractual foreign investment of 340 million U.S. dollars, covering fields such as equipment manufacturing, next-generation information technology, new materials, medicare & health and modern high-efficiency agriculture. Among these projects are 10 manufacturing projects with a total contractual foreign investment of 97 million U.S. dollars. 14 projects are in the U.S. and the other three in Canada.