THE Ministry of Commerce has approved the establishment of a mainland-Taiwan farm produce trade and logistics center in Qingdao, the first of its kind in northern China.

    Qingdao is the fifth mainland city to build such a center after Quanzhou in Fujian, Kunshan in Jiangsu, Yuhuan in Zhejiang and Shanghai Municipality.

    The center will be located in Shandong international farm produce exhibition and trade center in Qingdao’s Chengyang District, the only professional exhibition venue of farm produce in Shandong Province.

    The farm produce exhibition and trade center was constructed with a total investment of 130 million yuan and covers a floor area of 32,000 square meters. The exhibition halls in the center cover an area of 25,000 square meters.

    The center also has a 50,000-ton refrigeration house, a 40,000-squaremeter apartment hotel and a 88,000-squaremter sea food market, which are either completed or under construction.

    Plus, a farm produce safety supervision and detection center, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture, was relocated to the center in 2005.

    The mainland-Taiwan farm produce trade and logistics center will play an important role in strengthening the economic and trade cooperation between Qingdao and Taiwan.

    The developed farm technology and management expertise in Taiwan are expected to be introduced to Qingdao through the center.(Li Hao, Shen Junlin)