The China (Qingdao)-Israel Economic and Trade Forum was held in Qingdao's Shibei district on June 14, with more than 200 government officials, business representatives and experts from both countries in attendance.

The forum was jointly hosted by the China Chamber of International Commerce, the Qingdao Municipal Government and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce.

Zhang Shaogang, vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and China Chamber of International Commerce, said through a video conference that Israel is an important partner of China in the Middle East and involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The high-quality economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has formed a mutually beneficial and win-win situation," Zhang said.

Chinese ambassador to Israel Cai Run said in a statement online that the two countries have complementary advantages, huge potential and broad prospects for win-win cooperation.

In 2021, the bilateral trade in goods exceeded $20 billion for the first time, amounting to a total of $22.8 billion, up 30 percent year-on-year.

China has long been Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and the third largest in the world, and it became Israel's largest source of imports in 2021, according to Cai.

"The bilateral trade between the two countries gained a counter-trend growth amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which indicated a strong resilience and potential of bilateral cooperation," Cai said.

Irit Ben-Abba, Israeli ambassador to China, said the event aims to promote collaboration between the two business communities in innovative technologies, especially in such fields as life sciences technologies.

"Qingdao is very well known for its abundant agriculture resources and production conditions for grain and oil, food, animal husbandry and aquatic products," Ben-Abba said online.

She mentioned that Qingdao has its ambitions to become one of the most important research and development incubation and manufacturing bases for the science industry in China.

"Such efforts in Qingdao would facilitate the city to become a life science innovation hub in the future in China as Israel has embraced now globally," Ben-Abba added.

The forum is part of "Israel Week" in Qingdao and runs from June 13 to 19. The seven-day event includes agricultural and medical industry roadshows, photography exhibitions, Israel Krav Maga experiences and science-related activities.

Liu Jianjun, vice-mayor of Qingdao, said in a statement online that the city has continuously deepened the economic and trade cooperation and friendly exchanges with Israel, and the two sides have carried out fruitful cooperation in the fields of electronic information, mechanical equipment, instrumentation and other industries.