This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Demonstration Area for Local Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the SCO (hereinafter referred to as SCODA). After five years of efforts, the SCODA has reaped a slew of transferable experience that can be applied elsewhere and Qingdao has grown into a high ground for opening-up to the outside world, particularly to the SCO member states.

The SCODA took the first step in one year, scored a modicum of success in two years and made remarkable progress in three years. The “top four centers” in the SCODA and the China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade have shown signs of accelerated momentum. By the end of June this year, a batch of key support platforms such as the SCO Comprehensive Service Platform for Economic and Trade Cooperation (SCOCSP) and the Qingdao International Energy Trading Center have been put into operation across the board, 56 cases of institutional innovation have been launched in a row, and the number of international freight train lines has surged to 21 from merely two in 2019; the China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade has launched a combined 133 training sessions, drawing the participation of 9,900-plus persons from 43 countries and regions.

Over the five years, the SCODA has pursued independent reform by trial and error, upheld “single-core drive and citywide linkage”, and ramped up efforts to set up platforms, create models, gather industries and empower market players to provide China’s solutions to boost economic and trade ties with the SCO and to accelerate the formation of transferable experience on pushing ahead with economic and trade cooperation between China and the SCO. In addition, many significant foreign affairs were held in the SCODA such as the first “China + Five Central Asian Countries” Industrial and Investment Cooperation Forum, the Qingdao SCODA International Expo Center project came under the spotlight of the fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE), the SCODA sent China’s first economic and trade delegation at the local level to the SCO member states since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the SCO International Hub Port was granted with an UN-approved international port code, marking the SCODA is embarking on a new journey and writing a new chapter.

In the next phase, in terms of platform building, the SCODA will strive to prioritize the SCO New City, the Hub Port New City and the COSMOPlat New City, among other key areas, ensure platforms such as the SCO Mansion and the Youth Entrepreneurship Center will be put into service by 2024, plan to build public service platforms such as the Comprehensive Service Base for “Silk Road E-commerce”, aimed at building a new platform for international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative featuring a large capacity, a complete range of functions, competitive services and a solid foundation. In terms of resource integration, it will work harder to “go global”, bolster pragmatic cooperation with node cities which act as opening-up platforms, and facilitate the fulfillment of more than 1,000 China-Europe freight train trips; the Qingdao International Energy Trading Center will record a transaction volume of over RMB100bln; the imports and exports with the SCO member states will expand by 50% to RMB12bln, and the SCODA will strive to introduce five projects each worth RMB5bln-plus and 30 projects each with an investment of more than RMB1bln. In terms of institutional innovation, the SCODA will take advantage of Shandong Institute of SCO Local Economy & Trade to study systems for integrated innovation of policies and institutions, pilot the “single ticket system, single document system and single container system” campaign to build China’s strength in transportation, and try to garner significant policy support on energy, agriculture and trade.

An aerial view of the SCODA Pearl International Expo Center.  By Xing Zhifeng