[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In ancient China, Shandong served as a major supplier for export trade, a pivotal gateway of northern China for external exchanges, and an important transportation hub of the "Land Silk Road" and "Maritime Silk Road", thus playing a vital role in the originating and developing of the Silk Road.

As the bridgehead of the new Eurasian Land Bridge basically overlapping the ancient Silk Road, Shandong is linked through the Silk Road Economic Belt with the energetic Asia-Pacific region to the east, the resourceful central Asia in the middle and developed European economies to the west. Over 40 countries and regions along the Silk Road enjoy economic partnerships and great win-win cooperation potential. Shandong has developed economic and trade relations with over 220 countries and regions across the world, and established sister-city and friendship-city ties with 437 overseas cities.

[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The giant ports operator Shandong Port Group, or SPG, reported that its cargo throughput exceeded 1.6 billion metric tons in 2022, the most in the world and a 6.4 percent year-on-year increase, and it also handled a total container throughput of 37 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), the third most in the world with an 8.7 percent increase year-on-year. 

In 2023, the total value of Shandong's foreign trade reached a record high of 3.26 trillion yuan ($450 billion), with a year-on-year growth of 1.7 percent, according to official statistics released on Jan 17.

Last year, the province's total exports amounted to 1.94 trillion yuan, up 1.1 percent year-on-year, while its imports recorded 1.32 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.7 percent year-on-year.