The launch ceremony of the 11th Regional Leaders' Summit Event Series was held on Nov 15 via online channels.

Zeng Zanrong, vice-governor of Shandong province, attended the event in Jinan, capital of Shandong province, and spoke with leaders of Shandong's sister provinces and states, including Upper Austria in Austria, Bavaria in Germany, Western Cape in South Africa, Georgia in the United States, Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Quebec in Canada.

Zeng introduced the latest economic and social development of Shandong to its sister provinces and states. He noted that the summit has been held for 10 sessions and has become an institutionalized platform for mutual learning and mutually beneficial cooperation among sister provinces and states.

The launch ceremony of the 11th Regional Leaders' Summit Event Series is held on Nov 15. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As the host of the 11th summit in 2023, Shandong plans to take the series of activities as an opportunity to promote the exchanges and cooperation between its sister provinces and states in various fields based on the theme of "green development", and strive to make the 11th summit a friendly, pragmatic, green and successful conference, said Zeng.

Leaders from Shandong's sister provinces and states also introduced their green development concept and cooperation areas, expressing hope to boost cooperation in green development.

A series of activity plans were released at the event. The seven provinces and states will focus on green buildings, green transportation, green energy, children and green development, education and youth, and jointly discuss and promote exchange activities, so as to lay a more solid foundation, create a more friendly atmosphere and accumulate more fruitful results for next year's summit.

The summit mechanism was established in 2002 and it is held by the seven provinces and states every two years in turn. Currently, more than 300 bilateral and multilateral cooperation projects have been reached under the mechanism.