On December 5, 2022, the 2022 “Charming City of Jinan”: Conference on Industrial Cooperation with CEECs was successfully held online. At the conference, Mr. Zhangzhe, Chairman of CCPIT Jinan Sub-council, delivered a welcome speech, followed by Ms. Daniela Djurdjic Dedic, Chargé d'affaires for the Embassy of the Republic of Montenegro in China; Mr. Heri Bezić, Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy; Mr. Aurelian Gogulescu, President of the Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania; and Mr. Dotsenko Alexey, Director of the Department of Economic Relations with Foreign Parties at the Kronstadt Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Saint Petersburg. CCPIT Jinan Sub-council and the Greenland (Jinan) Global Commodity Trading Hub signed a tripartite cooperation memorandum with the Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania and the Kronstadt Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Saint Petersburg, respectively. Meide Group, Shengquan Group, and the Greenland (Jinan) Global Commodity Trading Hub made thematic promotions, respectively.

In his welcome speech, Mr. Zhang Zhe extended a sincere invitation to friends from CEECs, expressing his hope that they will visit Jinan, the beautiful city of spring, in the near future to enjoy and taste the springs and grasp opportunities for cooperation. He pointed out that this year marks the 10^th anniversary of the China-CEEC cooperation mechanism. The two sides benefit from deep connections and friendships and are strongly complementary to each other in economic development. As the capital city of Shandong, a coastal, economically significant, and populous province in China, Jinan is one of the megacities in north China with solid development strengths and a vision for international cooperation. In recent years, Jinan has been positioned as the central city of the Yellow River Basin as it is assigned new historic responsibilities and development missions by China’s national strategy for the ecological conservation and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. Under the national strategy, a group of projects have landed in Jinan to boost the city’s development, including the Jinan Start-up Area, the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and China’s first pilot financial reform zone for scientific and technological innovation. The Shandong Provincial Party Committee and the Shandong Provincial People’s Government are also stepping up their efforts to implement the strategy of “building a strong capital city” and support Jinan in its endeavor to be one of the central cities of China. Jinan is ushering in the best development opportunities. In addition, Jinan has a solid foundation for cooperation with CEECs. For example, the “Central European Trade and Logistics Cooperation Zone in Hungary,” a national overseas economic and trade cooperation zone, was initiated by the Jinan enterprise Shandong Dihao International Investment Co., Ltd. Jinan and CEECs have close cooperation in industries such as steel, furniture and its accessories, machinery, equipment, and electronic products. The two sides are always important foreign trade partners.

Guests from Montenegro, Croatia, Romania, and Russia responded actively to Mr. Zhang Zhe’s invitation. As noted by Ms. Daniela Djurdjic Dedic, Montenegro attaches great importance to the initiatives proposed by Jinan, deepens its cooperation with business associations in CEECs, promotes new, multilateral, extensive, and high-standard economic, trade, and cultural cooperation, and equally engages enterprises in the cooperation. According to Mr. Heri Bezić, the port of Rijeka in Croatia is one of the biggest ports at the northern Adriatic Sea, and it provides the shortest maritime link between CEECs and China, saving around six days of transportation time and bringing significant opportunities and value to Chinese exporters. Mr. Aurelian Gogulescu celebrated the achievements made in economic and trade cooperation and exchange between Romania and China. He acclaimed Jinan as a famous tourism center, noting that it is named the “City of Springs” because of the 72 springs in Jinan and that it is a major cultural center in Shandong Province. According to him, the two sides should explore the possibility of specific cooperation projects in tourism and at the academic level. Mr. Dotsenko Alexey believed that Saint Petersburg, Russia, is strongly complementary to Jinan, Shandong, in industry, technology, resources, and markets. He expressed his hope that the conference will enhance mutual understanding between the Kronstadt Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Saint Petersburg and the CCPIT Jinan so that the two sides will establish long-term relations and close industrial cooperation to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Big data and information technology, intelligent manufacturing and high-end equipment, high-quality steel and advanced materials, and biomedicine and “big health” are the four pillar industries of Jinan, and the city has built a solid foundation for the internationalization of those industries. CCPIT Jinan Sub-council serves as an essential bridge for Jinan’s industrial and commercial communities to carry out economic and trade exchange and cooperation and plays a critical role in promoting the city’s open economic development. It is working hard to drive the internationalization of relevant industries. By organizing this event, the CCPIT Jinan aims to: further strengthen its enterprise service network; expand its international business network; establish close collaboration with relevant economic and trade promotion organizations in CEECs; help enterprises on the two sides connect with each other in international cooperation on production capacity, infrastructure construction, technological innovation and transformation, and trade and investment promotion; establish new channels for communicating supply and demand information; explore comprehensive, multi-dimensional, and regular industrial cooperation; and push the high-quality development of trade and investment in Jinan and CEECs. The CCPIT Jinan hopes to build a smooth, convenient, highly efficient, and safe platform to facilitate cooperation and exchange between enterprises on both sides.

Activities attached to the conference, including the CCPIT Business Academy (Session 10): Training on “Sharing of Opportunities in CEEC Markets” (online) and the Matchmaking with Enterprises from CEECs (online), were held on the same day. More than 100 enterprises from Jinan and 33 enterprises from CEECs participated in the activities.