On June 18, the 6th Qingdao Multinationals Summit, co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and Shandong Provincial People's Government, arrived as scheduled. Crossing borders and connecting with the future, the summit allowed the wisdom and power of global enterprises to converge and mingle, writing a new chapter of win-win cooperation between multinational corporations and China.

In order to better tell the 'Qingdao Story' of business environment during the summit, ifengqd has specially planned the feature 'Qingdao@World Multinational Enterprises' Qingdao Story', which will tell the new story of multinational corporations' choosing Qingdao and investing in Qingdao through dialogues, and convey Qingdao's good voice of building a first-class business environment to the world. Through the dialog, it tells new stories of multinational companies choosing Qingdao and investing in Qingdao, conveying to the world Qingdao's good voice of building a first-class business environment, opening up channels for foreign investors to understand Qingdao and choose Qingdao, and building a bridge to enhance mutual trust.

This is the second time for Bekaert Group to participate in Qingdao Multinationals Summit, and on the site of this year's summit, Kurt Van Rysselberge (Kurt Van Rysselberge), Head of Bekaert China, said that the summit provides an excellent opportunity to learn about economic development plans:

'We did see a lot of business opportunities in the past meetings, especially in terms of bringing Bekaert's high-tech products, such as offshore wind power and green buildings, to the market.'

In recent years, Shandong Province has insisted on high-quality development as the hard truth of the new era, anchored in the direction of green and low-carbon, and revitalized its economy. Bekaert Group understands the policy orientation of green, low-carbon and high-quality development in Shandong Province, and has set its sights on the new energy and green infrastructure sectors.

'We expect Bekaert's green products to play a greater role in offshore wind power, energy, soil and water conservation, construction and other fields, contributing to a more sustainable world.'

As a globally recognized producer of steel wires and steel wire products, when talking about the reasons why Bekaert has repeatedly increased its investment and expanded its production in Qingdao, Kurt Van Rysselberge explained in four aspects.

Firstly, Qingdao has the advantage of industrial clusters. Qingdao and Shandong Province are important hubs for tire manufacturing, port machinery and wind power equipment production in China. Their proximity to Bekaert's core customers, such as tire manufacturers, ensures efficient supply chain cooperation.'

Secondly, it is also related to Bekaert's strategic location in northern China. 'As an important economic hub in Northern China, Qingdao provides Bekaert with access to the North and Northeast China markets and is an important pillar of Bekaert's operations in the region.'

And, the potential for green technology cooperation is also part of what Bekaert values. In Lik's opinion, solutions such as offshore wind power technology or fibers for tunnel construction in green infrastructure fit perfectly with Qingdao's urban development needs.

Finally, Kurt Van Rysselberge recognized Qingdao's business environment. 'Qingdao offers strong policy support, efficient government services and a highly internationalized business environment.'

Referring to Bekaert's future development in Qingdao, Kurt Van Rysselberge said, 'We will seize the opportunity of the construction of Qingdao's Second Undersea Tunnel to promote low-carbon materials and create a demonstration project for a 'low-carbon tunnel'; we will participate in more infrastructure projects in Qingdao, and work together to create an internationally recognized green infrastructure benchmark; Introducing advanced offshore wind power technology from Europe to support Shandong's transformation into a 'green power pioneer province'; enhancing the R&D capabilities of the Asian R&D center to develop products that are more suitable for the Chinese market. Cooperate with local universities (e.g. Qingdao University of Science and Technology) and enterprises to jointly promote the development of green materials technology.Disclaimer: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies (including product offerings, regulatory plans and business plans) and may change without notice. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.