A Qingdao economic and trade delegation recently visited Turkey, marking the city's first government-led overseas business mission of the year.

Thirty local companies in such fields as water services, agriculture, equipment manufacturing and legal services participated in 11 promotional events across three Turkish cities.

The trip yielded over 30 cooperation intentions with 82 Turkish firms, covering procurement, technology, OEM and overseas bases, with an estimated trade value of 1.57 billion yuan ($227.7 million). Nearly half of the Qingdao companies plan to follow up with further talks.

Two milestones were also achieved: the launch of the Silk Road E-commerce comprehensive service base's Turkey overseas warehouse and the service port of the China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone in Istanbul, marking two first-ever breakthroughs for Qingdao: its first overseas warehouse and first enterprise outbound service platform in Turkey.

Turkey sits at the strategic crossroads of Europe and Asia and is a key partner of the Belt and Road Initiative. Bilateral trade has grown rapidly, with Qingdao's trade with Turkey up 37.2 percent in the first two months of this year, reaching nearly $200 million. Turkey is also an EU's customs union member, making it a "golden bridgehead" for Chinese goods entering Europe tariff-free.

With six direct shipping routes from Qingdao Port, and China-Europe freight train services running to Istanbul and Izmit, as well as strong industrial complementarity in smart appliances, machinery and food processing, Qingdao is well-positioned to help local companies diversify their global supply chains and tap into Turkish and wider European markets.

Qingdao and Turkey maintain close trade ties in machinery, automobiles, food processing and other sectors. [Photo/Guanhai News]