The expanding international “friend circle" brings about more cooperation possibilities for Qingdao’s social and economic development.Since establishing sister city relations with Shimonoseki, Japan in1979,Qingdao has boasted84 international friendship cities in 46 countries Specifically Qingdao has forged friendship relations with 28 cities in 26 countries, friendly cooperation relations with 56 cities in 32 countries. Reportedly, Qingdao is expected to have as high as 100 pairs of friend- ship cities before 2025.

Qingdao is working on establishing two friendship city networks respectively by land and by sea in coordination.The 2018 SCO Qingdao Summit not only brought about an important strategic opportunity for cooperation with friendship cities in the SCO region,but also unfolded a new chapter in cooperation between Qingdao and SCO member states So far, Qingdao has forged friendship relations or reached friendship intentions with 14 cities in 11 SCO member states, establishing over time the land friendship city network unpinned by main node cities along the China-Eu rope Express Line.

Furthermore, after launching the brand themed “cooperation among friendship cities, create the future together” in 2021, Qingdao proposed innovatively a series of brands like “Make an Appointment with the SCO member states”, “A Friendly Neighbor with Asia”, “Have An Encounter with Europe” and “Impressed by Latin America” by region. To date, Qingdao has hosted over 50 events under the frame work of the brand.

Source：Los Angeles Times