On March 21, Qingdao held a roundtable meeting of German-fundedenterprises. It was jointly hosted by the Qingdao Municipal Government and the AHK Greater China, with the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Commerce as the organizer. Zhang Hui, Deputy Secretary of CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee, and Jonathan Schoo, Vice President of AHK Greater China, attended the meeting and delivered speeches.

At the meeting, Wang Zhijun, head of the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Commerce, made a thematic introduction on Qingdao's key areas of cooperation with Germany and related policies.Representatives from about 31 German-funded companies (organizations) including FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. Qingdao Branch, Lamina Heat (Qingdao) Ltd., Gerb (Qingdao) Vibration Control Co., Ltd., Andreas Stihl Power Tools (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., Covestro Polymer (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., LOGOMAT Automation (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., QingdaoSophienhammerHardware Co., Ltd., IEAInternationalTrading(Qingdao)Co.,Ltd., ElringKlinger Engineered Plastics(Qingdao) Co.,Ltd., KLINGSPOR Qingdao Ltd., German Enterprise CenterQingdao, and the BavarianRepresentative Office in China attended the meeting. Discussions were held on the operation and future development direction of businesses in Qingdao. Relevant departments of the Qingdao Municipal Government and representatives from variousmunicipalities (functional areas) also attended the meeting.

The German enterprises at the meeting spoke freely, highly praised Qingdao's internationalized business environment and the service-orientedattitude of government departments at all levels towards enterprises, and put forward a series of constructive suggestions and opinions on Qingdao's economic and social development in the future.

Wang Zhijun said that Qingdaohas a deep historical connection with Germany, close economic and trade exchanges as well as a good foundation for cooperation,and Germany has become Qingdao's largest European trading country and the main source of foreign capital in Europe. According to the data, more than 420 German enterprises have registered and investedin Qingdao,contributing significantly to the city's economic and social development with their steady development, advanced technology, good reputation and strong sense of social responsibility. At the same time, Qingdao's rapid development and perfect industrial chain system also providesa huge market for the growth of German enterprises.

In recent years, Qingdao has had close exchanges and cooperation with Germany. In March last year, Qingdao and the German Chamber of Commerceco-hosted the “Qingdao Night” event for German companies in Shanghai.In June last year, themain leader of Qingdao CPC Municipal Committee at that time led a delegation to visit Germany and held the “Qingdao-Germany Economic and Trade Exchanges and Cooperation Conference”in Munich. This is the first roundtable meeting of foreign enterprises held according to countrythis year, and also the first foreign enterprise event in Qingdao this year, which reflects the importance Qingdao attaches to the cooperation with Germany. It is hoped that through face-to-face exchanges with German enterprises, cooperation and friendship can be discussed, consensus on development can be reached, and investment confidence can be strengthened.

In her concluding remarks, Zhang Hui pointed out that Qingdao gives highpriority to economic and trade cooperation with Germany. German-funded enterprises in Qingdao are intimate partners in the city's high-quality development. Currently, Qingdao is implementing a three-year action plan for revitalizing and developing the real economy, vigorously promoting new industrialization, focusing on 24 key industrial chains, driving industrial innovation through sci-tech innovation, and accelerating new productive forces to become a momentum. It is hoped that German companies will pay more attention to Qingdao, invest in Qingdao, and share the development fruits of building Qingdao into a modernized international metropolis.At the same time, Qingdao will intensify efforts and do its best to serve German enterprises. At the roundtable, the representatives of entrepreneurs put forward many valuable suggestions. In response to these suggestions, Qingdao will continue to communicate with companies, provide policies, solve problems, and optimize services in order to ensure strong support for the development of German-funded enterprises. Firstly, policies will be implemented effectively.The detailed implementation rules willbe issued promptly. Tailored measures will be taken. Practical and useful policies will be continuously introduced to genuinely assist foreign enterprises in overcoming obstacles. Secondly, specific issues will be addressed effectively, with the Commerce Bureau taking the lead in listing, coordinating and following up solutions. Thirdly, the improvement of docking mechanism will be emphasized, with continuous strengthening of visits and researches, the effective utilization of platforms for stabilizing foreign trade and investment, and timely understanding and responding to concerns raised by foreign-funded enterprises. It is essential to establish a normalized mechanism for resolving problems and a collective consultationmechanism, providing precise and rapid solutions tailored to the various demands of each enterprise, to offer the best servicefor the high-quality development of foreign companies, including German enterprises.