Shandong province in East China recently established friendly relations with Samarkand, Uzbekistan, according to the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shandong Provincial People's Government.

Located in the central region of Uzbekistan, Samarkand is situated along the ancient Silk Road. Its capital city is Uzbekistan's second largest city, and a famous ancient city and tourism and cultural center in Central Asia.

As the hosts of the 22nd summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Samarkand and Shandong province enjoy broad prospects for cooperation in many fields, said Shandong officials.

In recent years, Shandong and Samarkand have continuously strengthened high-level exchanges and practical cooperation.

In April 2019, the governor of Samarkand led a government and economic and trade delegation to visit Jinan and Qingdao in Shandong. In May 2019, a delegation from Shandong visited Samarkand and held a cooperation and exchange meeting between enterprises from both sides.

Shandong has opened a number of China-Europe freight train routes to Uzbekistan, while enterprises from Shandong have invested in the country and the two sides have also boosted ties in industrial park cooperation.

Going forward, Shandong and Samarkand will further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in economic matters, trade, culture, education, tourism, science and technology, sports, health and other fields, striving to set a good example of China-Uzbekistan local cooperation and contributing to the construction of the Belt and Road, said Shandong officials.