Liu Jiayi (L), Party secretary of Shandong, makes an online dialogue with Kim Sungjoo, president of the Korea International Trade Association at the conference on Oct 22. [Photo/sdchina.com]

The South Korean session of the "Connecting Shandong with Fortune Global 500" event opened on Oct 22 in Jinan, capital of Shandong province.

The event is meant to strengthen Shandong's ties with transnational corporations from South Korea and fuel Shandong's high-quality development.

The event, which was jointly hosted by the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, the Shandong Provincial People's Government, and the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, set up main venues in both Jinan and Seoul.

It also had sub-venues in 16 Shandong cities. The venues were connected through a video livestream.

At Jinan's main venue, Liu Jiayi, Party secretary of Shandong, made online dialogues with Kim Sungjoo, president of the Korea International Trade Association, Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the South Korean CJ Group, and Chey Tae-won, executive vice-chairman of the South Korean SK Group.

Liu said that Shandong in recent years has been making efforts to deepen reform and opening up and optimize its business environment to create a more favorable environment for Fortune Global 500 companies.

When talking with Kim, Liu expressed a desire to further strengthen cooperation with South Korea in new infrastructure, healthcare, and online business and encouraged more companies to invest in Shandong.

Sohn said at the conference that CJ Group has always been committed to cooperation with Shandong. The company is currently strengthening strategic cooperation with the province and looking for new investment opportunities.

"In the future, we will continue to expand our investment in Shandong, and we are now actively exploring new business in biology, logistics, and other fields," Sohn said.

CJ Group is a global lifestyle and culture company that ranked 437th on the Fortune Global 500 list in 2020.

Agreements for 23 projects with a total of $820 million in investment and $397 million in contractual foreign investment were signed via online channels.

Projects focusing on high-end equipment manufacturing industry, high-end chemical industry, new materials, and food processing will be carried out in 11 cities in Shandong, namely Jinan, Qingdao, Zibo, Zaozhuang, Yantai, Weifang, Jining, Weihai, Rizhao, Liaocheng, and Binzhou.

According to the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce, South Korea is Shandong's third largest trading partner.

In 2019, imports and exports between Shandong and South Korea were valued at $28.32 billion. In the first eight months of this year, trade between the two was valued at $18.11 billion.