In recent years, the coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province, has seized the opportunities createdby economic globalization through implementing a comprehensive strategy of opening up varioussectors to promote rapid development.

In the first half of this year, Qingdao's GDP grew to 333.5 billion yuan ($52.69 billion). Its economygrew 9.6 percent compared to the same period last year despite the ongoing global economicdownturn.

Statistics from the Qingdao Bureau of Commerce show the city's foreign trade volume totaled $40.19billion in the first seven months, up 5.5 percent year-on-year. Exports rose by 2.3 percent to $22.8billion and imports grew by 9.7 percent to $17.36 billion.

Qingdao utilized $3.96 billion worth of foreign direct investment from January to July, a 32.9 percentyear-on-year growth. Meanwhile, outbound investment from Qingdao's enterprises grew 164.9 percentto reach $800 million.

In terms of trade in services, Qingdao's companies completed overseas contracting projects with acombined value of $1.87 billion in the first seven months, up 165.9 percent from a year ago, andoffshore outsourcing services generated by the city amounted to $400 million, up 216 percent.