On 28 May 2021, the ASEAN-China (Shandong) Trade and Investment Promotion,jointly hosted by Shandong Provincial People’s Government and the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), was held in Jinan. Nearly 200 people attended the offline activities. Among them were officials from Shandong provincial government and diplomaticmissions of ASEAN Member States (AMS) in China, and representatives from economic and trade organizations of Shandong and companies of both sides.

Minister counsellors and commercial counsellors in charge of economic, trade and investment cooperation fromembassies of AMS including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam elaborated the business environment and investment policies in their countries and looked forward to more practical cooperation between ASEAN and Chinese companies.

Representatives from the Development and Reform Commission and the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Shandong, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Dezhou Municipal People’s Government introduced the development planning and policy measures of the province,including the14th Five-Year Plan of Shandong, policies promoting high-quality development of the private sector, ASEAN-China bilateral local currency settlement, and measures developing new cross-border business forms through new financeand deepening cooperation between ASEAN and Dezhou.

In the side meeting on  business exchange, Royal Golden EagleGroup of Singapore, Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Company Limited and other pioneer enterprises in ASEAN-China cooperation shared their experiences and achievements in developing mutually beneficial cooperation. Representatives from AMS embassies in China hadface-to-faceexchanges and Q&A sessions with Shandong enterprises on investment, business operation and admission to industrial parks. Participating enterprises spoke highlyof the form and effectiveness of the promotion. They believed that the policy information provided by AMS diplomats was practical and effective, and helped Shandong enterprises to obtain first-hand information in a timely and effortless manner.

The promotion constitutes an important part of the ASEAN-China (Shandong) SME Conference for Cooperation and Development. Through the “CCB Match Plus” platform, Shandong broadcasted the entire event and organized online matchmaking and negotiations.