Qingdao adds fizz to HK link

Qingdao, a port city in Shandong, will see its economic cooperation with Hong Kong further enhanced, after a total of 68 deals were inked Wednesday.

At the Qingdao-Hong Kong Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference held in the city, contracts for projects with a total investment of $23.69 billion were signed by Hong Kong companies and representatives of the Qingdao delegation headed by deputy mayor Zhang Hui.

"For a long time, Hong Kong has been one of the most important trading partners of Qingdao and plays an indispensable role in Qingdao's overseas trade activities," Zhang said.

Hong Kong is the fifth largest trading partner of Qingdao. Two-way trade totalled $1.34 billion in 2010, of which Qingdao's exports to Hong Kong were valued at $1.15 billion. The trade value grew 56.7 percent in the first quarter of 2011 to $0.34 billion from a year ago.

Hong Kong is also Qingdao's second largest source of overseas investment, according to Zhang. The first foreign-funded enterprise in the city was set up by merchants from Hong Kong, she noted. Tsingtao Brewery, which produces China's best selling and most widely exported beer, was the first mainland company to list in Hong Kong.

As of the first quarter, a total of 3,592 Hong Kong-invested projects had got the go-ahead from the Qingdao government, accounting for 16 percent of all foreign-invested projects approved. Contractual Hong Kong investment stood at $16.51 billion, representing 26.3 percent of the total in Qingdao.

The 68 deals the two sides entered into this time span a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, logistics, services outsourcing and modern agriculture. But the focus was on the "blue economy" sectors.

Responding to the national strategy of establishing a blue economic zone in Shandong peninsula, Qingdao has set a goal of establishing by 2015 a marine industrial cluster that will revolve around fishery, shipping, marine equipment manufacturing and marine transport.

Of the projects signed Wednesday, 22 are in such sectors as marine biology, ocean tourism and ocean engineering.

With China's only ocean university, 80 percent of the country's marine academicians, and 40 percent of the above-provincial level marine research institutions, Qingdao expects to build a full-fledged marine industry in five years time and generate a whopping 20 percent of the city's GDP.