On September 19, the head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee announced at a press conference that, by now, Shandong has established 623 international sister city relationships with 94 countries, ranking second in China.

It is reported that the quality of exchanges between Shandong and its international sister cities has been continuously improved. The interactions in various sectors such as technology, education, culture, and youth are diverse and fruitful. Cumulatively, the number of cooperation projects with sister cities in investment, economy and trade, industry and other fields has reached 11,000, with a total investment of nearly 600 billion yuan.

As an important mechanism in Shandong's cooperation with international sister cities, the Regional Leaders' Summit began in 2002. It was co-initiated by Shandong, Bavaria (Germany), Quebec (Canada), Upper Austria (Austria) and Western Cape (South Africa), with São Paulo (Brazil) and Georgia (United States) joining later. These seven provinces and states are scattered across five continents, with a total population of 185 million and a combined GDP of about 3.5 trillion US dollars. Since the establishment of this mechanism, hundreds of bilateral or multilateral cooperation projects have been implemented in the participating provinces and states, yielding numerous practical results.