Business and government delegations from 18 countries gathered in Qingdao, Shandong province, for a commodity procurement matchmaking event held on Monday and Tuesday.

Organizers said the event aims to help high-quality and distinctive products from other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization better access China's vast domestic market, while building a trade and economic cooperation platform between Shandong and SCO partners.

The two-day event was part of the Ministry of Commerce's "Big Market for All: Export to China" initiative. It featured a range of activities, including imported goods procurement matchmaking events, supply-demand matchmaking sessions and e-commerce product sourcing sessions, as well as dozens of virtual negotiation rooms, attracting over 700 firms from China and abroad and generating over 500 matchmaking requests, according to the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce, which organized the event.

Arman Shakkaliyev, minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan, said the country's exports to China are currently dominated by mineral and metallurgical products, oil and gas resources, as well as processed agricultural goods, all of which have maintained steady growth.

Trade between Shandong province and Kazakhstan reached $6 billion last year. In the first two months of this year, it grew by more than 40 percent year-on-year, highlighting the strong willingness for cooperation and the vast potential between the two sides, Shakkaliyev said.

The Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce said the business matchmaking sessions yielded fruitful results. Multiple cooperation intentions were reached, with companies from SCO countries securing bulk purchase agreements for specialty agricultural products and light industrial goods with Chinese trading and e-commerce firms.

Wang Peng, an official with the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce, said the event will help bring more high-quality products from SCO countries into Shandong and across China, allowing domestic consumers to share global resources.