QINGDAO, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, launched a saloon to enhance economic and trade ties between China and Japan on Tuesday.

The complex consisting of two buildings covers a total area of 3,000 square meters, said Zhu Tieyi, director of the administration committee of the Qingdao International Economic Cooperation Zone, where the saloon is located.

With function areas for exhibitions, communication, office and business, the saloon will provide a cooperation platform for Japanese and Chinese enterprises, chambers of commerce and local governments.

The saloon will also set up an online platform for business information sharing and the display of new products resulting from the cooperation between Chinese and Japanese enterprises.

The saloon project also includes a 10.6-square-km industrial park under construction, which is mainly for demonstration projects of Sino-Japanese cooperation in sectors ranging from new materials, new energy technologies, bioengineering to information and communication technology, said Zhu.

"Infrastructure building of the park will be finished in 2025, when over 200 enterprises will move in, and the total industrial output value in the park is expected to reach 35 billion yuan (about 4.9 billion U.S. dollars), creating 35,000 jobs," Zhu added.

Qingdao opened a saloon for German merchants in November of last year and is constructing three other saloons for merchants from the Republic of Korea, Israel and member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), respectively. Enditem