Qingdao is an important coastal city in China and one of the first coastal open cities in the country. [Photo/WeChat account: qd12301]

Recently, Qingdao city in Shandong and the capital of Belarus, Minsk, signed a cooperative agreement, which increased Qingdao's international circle of friends to 89 cities in 50 countries.

Qingdao is an important city in China as it benefitted greatly from being one of China's first coastal cities to open up to international trade. In recent years, Qingdao's international friendship city network has become increasingly close-knit.

Qingdao insists on deeply integrating international friendship city work into major national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Through high-level visits and important activities, Qingdao has established friendly relations with important cities in the BRI countries such as Tbilisi, Georgia, and Brasov, Romania.

Additionally, Qingdao has also strengthened ties with the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Since the SCO Qingdao Summit in 2018, Qingdao has conducted comprehensive exchanges and cooperation with SCO member countries, opening a new chapter in expanding the SCO member countries' circle of friends.

Over the years, Qingdao has persisted in using friendship city channels to build communication bridges between government departments, friendly universities, cultural groups, media organizations, and more.

Likewise, Mannheim is an important industrial and commercial city and transportation hub in Germany, with a nearly 30-year history of friendly exchanges with Qingdao. In 1995, it became Qingdao's first Germany city to partner with, and in 2016, the two cities officially became sister cities. Over the years of interaction, the economic and trade cooperation between the two cities has yielded fruitful results.