On February 18, the first working day after the Lunar New Year, Shandong held the Provincial High-Level Opening-Up and High-Quality Investment Promotion Conference in the provincial capital Jinan, aiming to mobilize the whole province to strive forward and act proactively, deepen greater opening-up, expand greater investment promotion, and beat the "war drum" of Shandong's high-quality development.

　　Lin Wu, Secretary of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, pointed out in his speech that opening-up to both domestic and foreign markets must accelerate toward a broader scope, wider fields, and deeper levels, entering a new stage of high-level opening-up; investment promotion must focus more on the requirements of high-quality development and accelerate the shift from broad recruitment and broad attraction to selective and discerning investment. At present, Shandong is in a critical period of building a pioneering zone for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development, and must strive to use high-level opening-up and high-quality investment promotion to activate existing stock, empower incremental growth, transform variables, and aggregate energy, working to turn the comparative advantages of all aspects into an overall winning momentum for high-quality development.

　　At the conference that day, Lin Xiao, General Manager of AstraZeneca China's biopharmaceutical business, spoke as a corporate representative, saying that AstraZeneca is a globally leading biopharmaceutical company that has deeply cultivated the Chinese market for more than 30 years, with investment in China exceeding US$2 billion. The AstraZeneca production and supply base project in Qingdao has now entered the full construction stage and, once completed, will become the inhalation aerosol production base with the highest level of intelligence, the largest production capacity, and the most complete range of categories in China and even globally.

　　In Lin Xiao's view, Shandong has a solid industrial foundation and a complete industrial system. In recent years, it has made the biopharmaceutical industry a priority emerging industry for key development. Its unique regional advantages, strong scientific and technological strength, and open investment environment have created favorable conditions for the rapid development of the health industry. "A sound business environment has also strengthened our confidence in investing in Shandong."

　　According to Xu Lei, General Manager of BYD Group's Shandong operations, China's new energy vehicles took the lead in breaking through core technologies, with production and sales ranking first globally for nine consecutive years and accounting for more than 60% of the global market, forming a complete industrial chain with great resilience and competitiveness. In 2023, the group's new energy vehicle sales historically exceeded 3 million units, a year-on-year increase of more than 60%, retaining the top spot in global new energy vehicle sales, of which the BYD Jinan base produced 240,000 complete vehicles, with output expected to increase by more than 30% this year.

　　At present, the transformation of the automotive industry has entered deep waters. In Xu Lei's view, the further deepening of China's automotive electrification, the in-depth development of brand premiumization, and the acceleration of new energy vehicle exports are the three major development opportunities facing Shandong Province and BYD. BYD will combine the core technological advantages of the entire industrial chain and use original and disruptive technologies to advance and strengthen new quality productive forces, helping Shandong build a more independent, open, secure, and stable industrial chain and supply chain system.

　　Shandong's in-depth planning and elaboration of green, low-carbon, and high-quality development, the highly demonstrative application scenarios of new-type energy storage, and the new look of economic development at the provincial and municipal levels in recent years attracted Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd. to locate its northern base in Heze, Shandong. Wang Pengcheng, co-founder and president of the company, said that although Shandong's development level ranks among the top in China, it still explained its development philosophy at the first opportunity after the Spring Festival and embraced development with a more open mindset, "which gives us full confidence."

　　Sun Aijun, Director of the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, mentioned in his speech that in 2023, Shandong attracted and landed a total of 4,909 projects, with funds in place of 766.7 billion yuan (RMB, same below), of which 4,637 were domestic-funded projects with funds in place of 643 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6%. The Jinan-Qingdao-Yantai International Investment Promotion Industrial Parks had cumulatively landed 237 major projects, with completed investment exceeding 110 billion yuan, including 38 projects from "Fortune Global 500" enterprises.

　　Sun Aijun said that in 2024, Shandong will focus on 32 strategic emerging industry clusters, 15 future industry areas, and five clean energy bases, compile investment promotion guides, and improve investment promotion projects. At the same time, it will formulate a high-quality investment promotion action plan, striving to sign more than 2,000 projects during major events. Green channels will be opened for major investment projects, and various preliminary work funds will be used to focus on supporting the landing of projects from "Fortune Global 500" enterprises, central state-owned enterprises, and the top 500 private enterprises.

　　"In 2023, Shandong carried out 99 overseas investment promotion trips through provincial and municipal coordination, covering 33 countries and regions." According to Chen Fei, Director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce, Shandong currently has trade partners in more than 230 countries and regions. As the department responsible for opening-up, it will comprehensively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, achieve a higher level of freedom and facilitation in the field of trade in goods, strengthen international cooperation and exchanges in digital trade, and promote the digitalization of the entire trade chain. At the same time, it will promote systematic integration and internal-external linkage of overseas investment in industrial chains, supply chains, and financial chains, bringing more high-quality international capital to settle in Shandong.