The 2011 Yantai (Beijing) Strategic Cooperation Seminar for Multinational Companies was held in Beijing Thursday to boost multinational companies' investment in Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong province.

Co-organized by the Investment Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Yantai Municipal Government, the event serves as a platform for communication and cooperation. About 180 representatives from Global Fortune 500 companies, financial investment firms and foreign chambers attended the seminar.

Zhang Jiangting, Party Secretary of CPC Yantai Committee, delivers a speech during the 2011 Yantai (Beijing) Strategic Cooperation Seminar for Multinational Companies in Beijing October 20, 2011. [Ju Chuanjiang/China Daily]

During the event, Yantai government introduced 124 key projects that need foreign investment, covering areas such as high-end manufacturing, low-carbon industry, infrastructure, and fishery. Nine of the projects, with a total investment of US$3.8 billion, were signed at the event. The projects are Peglai Suonuoma Wine Center, Haiyang Sports Complex Development Project, Hi-tech Zone Xinan River Waste Water Treatment Project, Laiyang Xinlengda Group Jiangtong Industrial Park, Yantai Yacht Project, Longkou Wuzhou International Mall, Muping Pacific International Project, Laishan Lifestage Commercial Plaza and Zhifu Recreational Park.

"The cross sectors technological innovation and businesses development of Siemens, along with the sustainable development demand of Yantai will provide great potential for further cooperation in areas of urban infrastructure, energy saving and environmental protection, new materials, new energy, industry, health care and financial sourcing etc," said Lin Zebo, vice-president of Siemens China while addressing the seminar.

Zhang Jiangting, Party Secretary of CPC Yantai Committee, told reporters that the Shandong Provincial Government is vigorously implementing three development strategies for the Shandong Peninsular Blue Economic Area, the Yellow River Delta Efficient Ecological Economic Zone and Jiaodong Peninsular High-end Industry Cluster.

The strategies will help promote the province's cooperation with renowned multinational corporations in sectors of automobile, computer, mobile phones, wine, shipbuilding and marine engineering, he noted.

Yantai is located in East Shandong Peninsula, lying along the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Bay. It boasts a State-level free trade port, a national hi-tech industrial zone and a national nature reserve.

Yantai's GDP topped 436 billion yuan last year, ranking 20th in the country and 2nd in Shandong province. So far, more than 90 companies out of Global Fortune 500 and well-known multinational corporations from more than 80 countries and regions have established businesses in Yantai.