QINGDAO attracted 337 foreign-invested projects with planned investment of US$2.71 billion during the first six months of this year, increasing by 60.4 percent over the same period of last year. US$2.2 billion has already been paid.

Creativity is key for the city to attract foreign investment this year. The city attracted its first foreign-invested company and its first foreign project invested with RMB this year.

Meanwhile, the city has also approved 22 merging projects with contracted investment of US$150 million during the first six months. The projects could not only help increase the amount of foreign investment but also help the city restructure resources and introduce advanced foreign technology and management experience.

Moreover, according to statistics, there have been 48 foreign projects in blue economy areas with contracted investment of US$480 million this year, accounting for 17.7 percent among all the foreign projects in the city in the first six months. The projects were mainly in areas such as marine equipment manufacturing, ocean engineering, modern logistics, new materials, new energy, biological technology and cultural tourism. Big projects included a container port project at Qianwan Bay with about US$320 million investment, an intellectual technology project with investment of US$90 million, a wind energy project worth US$ 82.26 million and a construction project with US$49.9 million.

The city also plans to attract more Top 500 enterprises to invest in areas of new industries, manufacturing, blue economy and modern logistics this year.

(Wang Yuanyuan, Shen Junlin)