1．Foreign Cooperation

Foreign trade
Shandong Province enjoys a long history of foreign trade, with Yantai city as one of China's earliest seaports engaged in foreign trade, and Qingdao and Jinan opened to the outside world for business since one hundred years ago.

Total Volume of Foreign Trade
In 2005, the total foreign trade volume of Shandong Province reached US$76.9 billion, up 26.5% over 2004, of which export volume US$46.3 billion and import volume US$30.6 billion, increasing by 29 % and 22.8% respectively over the previous year.

Foreign Trade Partners
More than 200 countries and regions have had trade relations with Shandong Province so far.

Trade Structure
The exportation of textile and garments, agricultural products and electromechanical products amounted to US$10.78 billion, US$6.9 billion and US$13.58 billion, accounting for 23%, 15% and 29% respectively of the province's total exportation, and importation of these three commodities reached US$1.48 billion, US$4.87 billion and US$10.16 billion, accounting for 5%, 16% and 34% respectively of the province's importation.
The exportation of general trade, processing trade and other trades were US$23.1 billion, US$22.8 billion and US$540 million, accounting for 50%, 49% and 1% of the province's total respectively. The importation of these three categories of trades were US$12.59 billion, US$13.26 billion and US$4.14 billion, accounting for 42%, 44% and 14% of the province's total respectively

Major Products Imported to Shandong in 2005
Unit: US$100 million

Major Products Exported from Shandong in 2005

2．Foreign Investment

Total Foreign Investment
In 2005 Shandong actually utilized a total foreign investment of US$11 billion, an increase of 12.2% compared with the previous year.

Sources of Foreign Investment
More than 130 countries and regions have invested in Shandong Province. Six leading countries and regions as sources of foreign investment to Shandong are: Korea, H.K., USA, Japan, Taiwan and UK affiliated Virgin Islands.

Fields of Foreign Investment
Foreign investment was mainly put in these fields: processing of agricultural and sideline products and foodstuff, manufacturing of telecommunication equipment, computers and other categories of electronic devices, processing of textile products, garments, shoes and caps, manufacturing of transportation equipment and vehicles, manufacturing of general-purpose equipment, processing of nonmetal ores, textile industry, processing of industrial chemicals and chemical products, manufacturing of electrical appliances and machinery, as well as manufacturing of special equipment.

Cooperative Partners
116 out of 500 world top enterprises have invested in Shandong Province, including General Motors, Lucent Technologies, HP, CSX World Terminals, Coca Cola, Pepsi, McDonald and KFC from the USA, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Sumitomo, Panasonic, Marubeni, Sojitz, Hitachi and Suzuki from Japan, UK-based Holland Shell and Uni-Lever from UK, Siemens and Metro from Germany, Carrefour and Total from France, Nestle from Switzerland, and Daewoo, Samsung, Hyundai, SK and LG from South Korea.

3．Overseas Projects Contracting and Labor Service

By the end of 2005, an accumulated total of US$11.2 billion of overseas contracts have been signed and yielded a turnover of US$8.5 billion in the fields of construction, communications, petrochemicals, electrical power, aquatic products processing, electro-mechanics, fishery, agricultural plantation, textile and garments, catering, foodstuff processing and computer software, etc. in more than 100 countries and regions, such as Japan, Korea, Singapore, Israel, Hong Kang, South Asia, Africa, Middle East and West Asia, etc. The major companies engaged in overseas projects contracting and labor services include: Shandong Power Infrastructure General Co., Shengli Petroleum Administration, Qingdao Construction Group, No.14 Bureau of China Railway General Group Co., Shandong Economic and Technology Cooperation, Weihai Economic and Technology Cooperation, and Yantai Economic and Technology Cooperation. By the end of 2005, 280,000 persons/times have been dispatched overseas for labor service in the aggregate, including 70,000 people who are still on the service currently.

4．Overseas Investment

By the end of 2005, Shandong Province has approved to set up 1075 enterprises (organizations) overseas, with a total contractual investment of US$1.47 billion by Shandong companies and their foreign partners, including US$1.07 billion by Shandong side. The overseas investment covers such fields as household appliances, textile and garments, mineral resources, timber, machinery, foodstuff processing, light industry, IT, agricultural plantation, sea food processing, agricultural machinery, real estate, advertisement, tourism, restaurants and fishery, etc. in more than 100 countries and regions. Energy exploration, processing & manufacturing, and trade in services have become three major fields for Shandong to invest overseas.

5．Sister Relationship

Shandong has established sister relations with 130 foreign provinces, states and cities.
List of Shandong's Sister Relations with Foreign Provinces and States