The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum on People-to-People Friendship and Sister Cities will be held in Qingdao from June 14 to June 16.

Co-sponsored by the SCO Committee on Good-neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Shandong Provincial People’s Government, the SCO Forum on People-to-People Friendship and Sister Cities has invited more than 20 foreign guests including diplomatic envoys in China, state governors and mayors and will present in a collective manner cooperation results in the big family-like SCO, with hopes of setting up a more open-minded international high-end platform to facilitate the construction of the SCO Demonstration Area (SCODA) and in a strong indication of Qingdao’s ambition to pool resources to build a new high ground for opening up. With the theme of “Carrying Forward the Shanghai Spirit, Advance Friendly Cooperation”, the forum will see a number of signing ceremonies and launching ceremonies on friendly cooperation as well as the release of the Qingdao Initiative on the SCO Forum on People-to-People Friendship and Sister Cities.

Qingdao has so far 85 sister cities located in 47 countries and regions. 12 of them are in the SCO member states, up from 3 prior to the SCO Qingdao Summit, and have conducted friendly exchanges and cooperation with Qingdao in economic and trade ties, science and technology, education and medical care.  (Yu Ruixin)

The Qingdao SCODA Pearl International Expo Center.