In June, 2018, President Xi Jinping chaired the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and delivered important remarks in Qingdao.

Shandong has accelerated its steps to bring in and go global, and made new progress and achievements. Shandong was the first economically advanced province on China’s east coast that had been included into the promotion events of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presenting Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and diplomatic envoys from various countries were invited to the event of MFA Presenting Shandong Province.

A series of international cooperation mechanisms have been established in Shandong, such as Regional Leaders Summit,Shandong Province-Yamaguchi Prefecture-Gyeongsangnam-do Tripartite Meeting, Joint Conference on Shandong-Gyeonggi-do Friendly Cooperation, the Association of North East Asia Regional Governments, East Asia Local and Regional Government Congress, Shandong-South Australia working groups, and China-Japan-ROK local business cooperation.

The 2nd Dialogue for Chinese and African Governors and Mayors, the 2014 Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade and the 2nd APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting, the 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences, the 4th China-Central Asia Cooperation Dialogue, the 2nd BRICS Sherpa meeting, the First SCO Film Festival, International Summit on Innovation and Development of Youth Entrepreneurs, Nishan Forum on World Civilizations, 2018 Conference of Great Business Partners, China-Russia SME Roundtable, and many other international exchange activities have been successfully held in Shandong.

China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area, the first such endeavor in China, East Asia Marine Cooperation Platform, East Asia Livestock Products Exchange, China–ROK (Weihai) Industrial Park, and China-Russia Local Cooperation Park are also located in Shandong.

Shandong has established sister relationships with 221 local governments and friendly cooperative relationships with 240 local governments from 75 countries, and 1167 pairs of sister relationships of schools, hospitals, and organizations at the community level. The number is the 2nd highest in China. The title of Honorary Citizen of Shandong Province has been given to 85 foreign friends from 23 countries and the title of Ambassador of Friendship of Shandong Province to 142 foreign friends from 36 countries.