On the morning of November 23, 2023 local time in the UAE, under the witness of Song Junji (Vice Governor of Shandong Province), Chen Fei (Director of the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province) and other leaders, Qian Xiaojun (the Founder and CEO/President of Guolian Group) and Zhang Wei (Vice President of Tuduoduo and the Auto Equipment Industry Chain Master) signed a tripartite MOU with the Shandong Port Overseas Development Group and AD Ports Group in the KEZAD Free Trade Zone, Khalifa Port, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. The three parties reached a cooperation intention on cross-border business cooperation in the import/export/re-export, overseas warehousing, logistics and distribution, product display, and online platform of China's auto equipment industry chain in the UAE. The signing of the memorandum aims to actively integrate into the "Belt and Road" initiative, integrate the advantages of the three parties, and create a new model for the cross-border digital supply chain industry to go overseas.
AD Ports Group is the leading operator of UAE ports, economic cities, free trade zones and logistics operation. It manages various ports, industrial zones, logistics centers and shipping companies in the Abu Dhabi region and is one of the most important pillars of Abu Dhabi's economic development, providing efficient and reliable products and services to regional and international customers with diversified business and continuous innovation and cooperation.
The Shandong Port Overseas Development Group is a subsidiary of Shandong Port Group, which undertakes the important responsibilities and missions of the international development strategy of Shandong Port. In accordance with the President Xi Jinping's significant instruction of Shandong to "accelerate the construction of a world-class marine port", Shandong Port Group was established in August 2019, with a cargo throughput of more than 1.6 billion tons and a container volume of more than 37 million TEUs in 2022, ranking the world’s first and third respectively. It has 327 container routes, closely connects with more than 180 countries and regions around the world, with 32 inland ports and 82 container sea-rail transportation lines. It has successfully operated overseas projects such as Chinalco Boffa project in Guinea and Khalifa Port’s II Container Terminal project in Abu Dhabi, and concluded 40 friendship ports.
Abdullah Al Hameli, CEO of AD Ports Group Economic City and Free Trade Zone, pointed out that, as an important hub port in the Middle East, Abu Dhabi Port is an integrated port with an excellent geographical location, a wide range of cargo and passenger and cargo combined functions. In the future, AD Ports Group will provide services such as warehousing land, product exhibition halls, and ports operation according to the business need of the three parties, so as to promote the sustainable development of China's "Belt and Road" strategy in the Middle East.
Li Fengli, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Director and General Manager of Shandong Port Group, said that Shandong Port Group and AD Ports Group have been cooperating for a long time. In April 2019, Qingdao Port of the Shandong Port Group and COSCO Shipping jointly invested in and operated the Khalifa Port II Container Terminal project, which opened the prelude to deepening the cooperation between Shandong Port Group and AD Ports Group. On December 14, 2021, the two parties established a friendly port relationship, and on November 11, 2022, the "Safeen Power" made its maiden voyage to Qingdao Port, officially opened the "the Far East to the Middle East" route, making the cooperation between the two ports closer. At the same time, Shandong Port Overseas Development Group and Guolian Group have the following characteristics in the auto equipment industrial belt cross-border layout such as resource sharing, business synergy and complementary advantages, hoping that the three parties take the signing as an opportunity to strengthen connection and communication and promote their comprehensive cooperation, making their positive contributions for the economic and commercial cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and the UAE, and maintaining the smooth and stable development of the global industrial chain and supply chain!
Qian Xiaojun, the Founder and CEO/President of Guolian Group, pointed out that the signing of the MOU among Guolian Group, Shandong Port Group and AD Ports Group is of great strategic significance. The three parties have their own irreplaceable and respective advantages, and can truly converge together to realize the model case of "industrial belt + cross-border e-commerce" proposed by the State. Since April 25 this year, the State Council put forward the strategy of "industrial belt + cross-border go overseas", Guolian Group and Shandong Port Group have been committed to working together to build an integrated service platform for cross-border exports of the industrial belt and jointly promote the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" Initiative. With the signing, Guolian Group will continue to give full play to the industrial advantages and platform operation capabilities of “platform, technology and data”, and cooperate with two partners to achieve overseas centralized procurement, online trading, offline promotion, digital warehousing and logistics system construction and auto equipment exhibition hall around the clock building, opening up the new format of B2B cross-border e-commerce of tires, auto parts and vehicle industries.
At the same time, the three parties also conducted extensive exchanges around the "Belt and Road" initiative, and jointly expressed their commitment to reducing cost and increasing efficiency for Chinese enterprises to go overseas, increasing the international market share of “Made in China”, and coordinating and cooperating closely, so as to play their due value and role.