The coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province sent an economic and trade delegation to Melbourne, capital of Victoria State, Australia, on Dec 5. The two parties held talks in trade cooperation, especially in agriculture, ICT, education and aviation, and discussed the establishment of economic partnership.

Zhang Jun, assistant secretary-general at the Qingdao government and head of the delegation, held talks with Helen Revell, market development and trading director of Victoria's Department of State Development, Business and Innovation. Zhang voiced his hope of taking the opportunity of this visit to promote the establishment of partnership and facilitate the cooperation in agriculture, trade, education and tourism. He also said the Qingdao government is seeking an Australian city to initiate its direct flight and hopes Melbourne will become an ideal choice.

Revell reinforced this by saying that the Victoria government has been paying particular attention to the cooperation with China and has established five offices in China. She added that the advantage of Melbourne's airport lies in its 24-hour service, comparing to Sydney airport. She also expressed strong desire to establish partnership with Qingdao and will give response to the signing of the memorandum of understanding as soon as possible.

The Qingdao delegation got to experience the completion ceremony of Shandong HYI Group's project in Melbourne and Hisense Group's Australian branch, where the two held working talks.