AN ecological park will start construction in Qingdao at the end of this year. It is the first ecological and industrial park jointly built by China and Germany. The park launched its first introduction meeting at the Chinese cultural center in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 16, attracting more than 100 German companies. Unlike the traditional industrial park, the ecological park aims at developing the high-end manufacturing industry in energy saving, green energy, electric automobiles, ecological construction materials and ocean equipment. It will also help the development of industries such as industrial design, electronic information, education and training and financial services. “Germany is one of the world’s leading countries in environmental protection and energy saving, so the park will create a good opportunity for bilateral cooperation,” said Wu Hongbo, Chinese ambassador in Germany. “The introductory meeting is a good opportunity, particularly in infrastructure construction, environmental protection and alternative energy,” said Gerhard Schroder, former president of Germany. The ecological park is a sustainable development program signed between China and Germany in 2010. In recent years, trade between Qingdao and Germany has developed fast. The trading volume between Qingdao and Germany reached US$1.968 billion in 2010. Among these, exports to Germany reached US$1.399 billion, while imports from Germany was US$569 million. From January to June, the trading volume was US$1.117 billion, an increase of 30 percent over the same period of last year. As of June, Germany had invested in 234 projects in Qingdao with total investment of US$609 million. Qingdao had also set up 15 projects with investment of US$1.885 million in Germany, including trading companies, representative organizations and manufacturing companies. Meanwhile, Qingdao has also become the sister city of four German cities. ?(Wang Yuanyuan, Guo Yang, Wu Mei, Dai Qian) | 