Participants attend the 2025 SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) International Investment and Trade Expo at the Qingdao SCODA Pearl International Expo Center in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, July 18, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
Thanks to a cluster of foreign trade industries and fast cross-border logistics channels, the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao has witnessed a spike in trade growth.
According to statistics from the customs, the demonstration area’s trade value with other SCO member countries during this year’s first seven months reached 53.26 billion yuan (about 7.47 billion U.S. dollars), an year-on-year increase of 26.1 percent. Exports surged 21.5 percent to 26.88 billion yuan (about 3.77 billion U.S. dollars), with household appliances and textile and garment products accounting for a relatively large proportion. Imports reached 26.38 billion yuan (about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars), rising by 31.0 percent. The imports of seafood from the Far East and those of the dried fruits and dairy products from Central Asia saw significant growth.
An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 27, 2025 shows the Qingdao SCODA Pearl International Expo Center in the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 27, 2025 shows trucks transporting cargo on a road in the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 27, 2025 shows a freight train arriving at the multi-modal transport center of the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)Trucks set off from the multi-modal transport center of the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, Aug. 27, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 27, 2025 shows trucks transporting cargo on a road in the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 27, 2025 shows trucks transporting cargo at the multi-modal transport center of the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)A drone photo taken on Aug. 27, 2025 shows a freight train arriving at the multi-modal transport center of the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)Customs officers check the operation of the freight trains at the multi-modal transport center of the China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, Aug. 27, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) Reference Link:- Staff members of China-SCO (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Comprehensive Service Platform introduce the platform during the 2025 SCO International Investment and Trade Expo in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, July 18, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance,
a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went
back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016,
working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
