Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, offers a fascinating picture of how China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is evolving from a connectivity-oriented vision into a broader platform for trade, investment, technology, industry and people-to-people cooperation. Jinan is increasingly emerging as an important gateway connecting Shandong’s powerful industrial economy with international markets and partners across the Belt and Road.
Through the scale of Shandong’s economic cooperation with the countries along the Belt and Road, it can be clearly seen that Shandong has become more and more influential in the international arena. The final provincial data show that in 2025, the total value of Shandong’s foreign trade was around RMB 3.53 trillion. The province’s foreign trade with Belt and Road countries and regions amounted to RMB 2.26 trillion, representing 64.1 percent of its total foreign trade, which is the biggest since the BRI was launched. During the year, Shandong enterprises also invested in Belt and Road countries and regions with a total amount of US$4.71 billion. Foreign investment is another important aspect of Shandong’s development.
In 2025, the province actually utilized US$9.06 billion in foreign investment. High technology industries formed the next largest category of $4.66 billion (51.5 per cent of the provincial total), highlighting the increasing significance of advanced technology, innovation and high-value industries. As of the end of 2025, 236 Fortune Global 500 companies have gained investment in Shandong with 947 projects. Jinan is particularly important in this growing international economic network. The total value of foreign trade in 2025 was RMB 289.8 billion, an increase of 24.7 percent from the previous year. Trade with Belt and Road countries increased by 27 percent. Jinan also achieved US$1.22 billion in actual utilized foreign investment, of which US$230 million came from high-tech industries. The city’s China-Europe freight train services increased 21.7 percent in 2025 to 1,252, consolidating its role as a hub for logistics and connectivity.
The numbers reveal that the BRI extends beyond just the physical. It is forming production and trade networks, technological networks, investment networks and knowledge exchange networks. This role is further bolstered by Jinan’s growing transportation network. The city is transforming into a national transportation hub with a large-scale high-speed rail network, expressway and aviation and multimodal logistics system. This is an important opportunity for Pakistan. The already good Pakistan-China relation has a solid foundation and the next step may be a greater link between Shandong’s industrial and technological capabilities and CPEC 2.0. Such cooperation is given ample room in the new China-Pakistan consensus. Both countries have agreed to make CPEC 2.0 focused on industry, agriculture and mining and to focus on technical and vocational education and training, education and people to people exchange in addition to co-operating in the fields of information technology and science and technology and in trade and investment in January 2026.
The joint statement further made by the two countries in May 2026 also included quality development of CPEC 2.0, development of Gwadar as a regional connectivity hub, enhancement of land connectivity via Khunjerab Pass and increased involvement of third parties in CPEC projects. This provides an organic platform for the cooperation between Shandong and Pakistan.
The first is agriculture could be a great power base. Shandong has a sound agricultural and food processing base and Pakistan has a huge potential in agriculture. Cooperation may include modern agricultural machinery, seed technology, irrigation, agricultural processing, cold-chain logistics, livestock development and digital agriculture. The possibility of setting up demonstration farms and agricultural technology centers in Pakistan by Chinese enterprises and increasing the presence of agricultural products in the Chinese markets would be possible for the Shandong enterprises.
Secondly, industrial partnerships may provide CPEC 2.0 with a production focus. Industries like machinery/equipment manufacturing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, agricultural machinery etc in Shandong could be linked with SEZs in Pakistan. Chinese companies could invest in Pakistan, set up joint ventures and manufacturing units in the country and develop export capacity, job creation and technology transfer, rather than just export to Pakistan.
Thirdly, Gwadar and logistic is another promising area. There is much that Jinan can offer Pakistan in the way of practice for the development of Gwadar as a regional connectivity hub while Shandong’s large port network can offer much to Pakistan in that regard. The current China-Pak agreement clearly highlights Gwadar’s significance in the region’s connectivity.
Fourth, technology and digitalization cooperation may be the key enabler for the coming phase. The growing innovation ecosystem in Jinan can pave the way for partnership with the Pakistani universities, technology companies and industrial clusters on various fields including AI, smart manufacturing, digital logistics, E-Commerce and green technologies.
Fifth, vocational education and human resource development must be given more attention. Sustainable development and job creation are now a key priority of CPEC 2.0. Pakistanis’ youth could be provided an opportunity to pursue joint vocational training in manufacturing, agriculture, engineering, logistics, information technology and modern services with Shandong and Jinan. This kind of cooperation would help to make sure that investments generate not only infrastructure but also human capital. Pakistan can also become a gateway to South Asian market and Central Asia and Middle East countries for South China enterprises in order to find opportunities.
Cooperation could hence extend from bilateral trade to a more comprehensive regional economic partnership, through the Karakoram Highway and Pakistan’s entire transportation network, with Gwadar. The future of CPEC should not simply be considered in terms of roads, energy and infrastructure. Its next chapter will be one of industry, agriculture, technology, innovation, human development and regional connectivity. It is very conducive to Jinan and Shandong to make a contribution to this transformation. They are increasingly involved in the Belt and Road economies, attracting more foreign investment, advanced industrial capabilities and a fast-growing logistics industry, which is excellent for further cooperation with Pakistan.
Pakistan, by building better relations with the province of Shandong, can convert CPEC from ‘corridor of connectivity’ to ‘corridor of production, innovation and shared prosperity’. Pakistan has the potential to become a strategic link to South Asia and beyond for Shandong. Perhaps this is the most promising aspect of the CPEC 2.0 by making geographical connectivity into long-term economic relationships and making the vision of the Belt and Road into people, business and community opportunities. ([email protected].)
