Jining cultural products are on display at a Chinese culture exhibition held in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. [Photo/WeChat account: jnwhlyj]

Jining in East China's Shandong province hosted 15 international cooperation activities revolving around economy and trade, culture and tourism, as well as education in 2021, officials said at a news conference held on Dec 8 to review the city's international exchanges this year.

Due to  epidemic prevention and control requirements, the city has shifted offline exchanges online to maintain regular international communications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These online events included a Shandong-Ukraine agricultural cooperation videoconference with 14 Jining companies taking part, a Shandong-Russia art schools communication conference, and a China-Brazil online service trade fair.

This year also witnessed the establishment of Jining's new friendship ties with Pskov in Russia and Blantyre in Malawi. To date, Jining has established friendly relationships with 42 local governments in 21 countries.

A variety of exchange activities between Jining and its friendship cities were also held, such as an online culture and tourism meeting with Ashikaga in Japan, as well as a teenager fine arts exhibition held by Suseong-gu in Daegu, South Korea that featured 20 paintings by Jining middle-school students.

In addition, the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries set up the country's first domestic and foreign teenagers' communication base in Jining early this year, launching its first online event between Shandong and Northern Ireland in June.

Efforts have also been made to facilitate international cooperation for companies, officials said.

The city's foreign affairs office has issued invitation letters for 143 foreign professionals, technical workers, and foreign partners of local companies from 14 countries.

The local government also implemented 10 measures to improve services for foreign-related companies and promote the application of the APEC Business Travel Card among local companies.

Services for local expats have been improved as well. All expats that want to receive COVID-19 vaccination have received inoculations.