99 projects signed in Shandong province

China’s eastern province of Shandong sealed foreign investment deals worth USD15.6 billion for 99 projects in various cities on June 20. Global companies from 16 countries and regions, including Japan’s Mitsui & Co and Germany’s ZF Friedrichshafen, are among the signatories. The agreements were signed during the third Qingdao Multinationals Summit. Government officials and corporate executives said these deals signify that China will continue to play a key role in supporting the stable operation of global supply chains, and facilitate multinationals to achieve better growth in its lucrative market. The big-ticket projects are mainly in the fields of high-end equipment and chemicals, new energy, new materials, information technology, finance, ocean development, agriculture and services.

Fourteen projects have a contracted foreign capital exceeding USD100 million each, and 61 projects exceed USD30 million each, said the summit’s organizers, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Shandong’s provincial government. With global transnational investment in manufacturing shrinking, China, with its huge market and complete supply chain, has attracted MNC investments in manufacturing and made significant contributions to global economic growth in recent years, said a business report released by the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think tank of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). The report stated that multiple factors like the rise of trade protectionism, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have reshaped the global supply chain, leading to a new round of restructuring. The scale of foreign investment in China’s manufacturing sector has increased steadily, and MNCs’ business performance also continued to improve in China, boosting their confidence to sustain or increase their investment in the country, said Gu Xueming, President of the CAITEC.

With China underlining digitalization, green transformation and industrial upgrade, the manufacturing projects invested by MNCs in the country have tended to be large-scale in recent years, covering the whole industrial chain. China has the potential to become a hotbed for research and development, especially for large MNCs. There is also enormous untapped potential in both trade in services and decarbonization in the country, according to Business Confidence Survey 2022, released by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, the China Daily reports.