On October 28th, at the 2021 China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum on Member State Financial Cooperation and Capital Market Development, Qingdao’s first QDLP fund settled in tge SCO Demonstration Zone, which is the first overseas investment fund in SCO Demonstration Zone, with a pilot line of USD 150 million.

QDLP stands for qualified domestic limited partners, which refers to these pilot fund management enterprises that after passing the qualification examination and approval and obtaining the line, can raise funds from domestic qualified investors and set up pilot funds to invest in overseas primary and secondary markets, thereby further facilitating outbound investment by domestic institutions. On March 19th, this year, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange approved Qingdao to launch QDLP foreign investment pilot, and Qingdao received the first batch of pilot line of USD 3 billion.

It is reported that SCO Demonstration Zone will, in cooperation with Sino-Russian Energy Investment Private Equity Fund Management (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., initiate the establishment of overseas investment funds in RMB or foreign exchange, and act as the overseas investment fund manager to manage its overseas investment and other businesses, with the aim to enrich investment subjects, investment directions and investment scope, promote capital opening and improve investment environment.

Sino-Russian Energy Investment Private Equity Fund Management (Qingdao) Co., Ltd. is an industrial investment fund management company initiated and established by State Power Investment Corporation under the guidance of the Sino-Russian Regional Cooperation Development Investment Fund Steering Committee and the National Development and Reform Commission. In September 2020, State Power Investment Corporation cooperated with Shandong New and Old Kinetic Energy Conversion Guidance Fund, Qingdao Guidance Fund and Jiaozhou Guiding Fund to register the Sino-Russian Energy Fund with a total scale of 10 billion yuan in SCO Demonstration Zone, which, with a focus on key cooperation projects among China and Russia and friendly third countries, is intended to deepen bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia, and propel the international innovation and development of China’s clean energy industry through two-way investment and financing in energy and related fields.

At the forum, SCO Demonstration Zone signed cooperation agreements with Astana International Finance Center of Kazakhstan, CICC Capital and other Chinese and foreign capital operating institutions to further smooth the channels of financial capital input and output.

On October 28th, the 2021 China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Forum on Member State Financial Cooperation and Capital Market Development was held in Jiaozhou city, Qingdao. The SCO Secretariat and other international organizations and diplomatic envoys of relevant countries in China, heads of large financial institutions at home and abroad, well-known financial experts at home and abroad, and enterprise representatives attended the meeting in a combination of online and offline.

Focusing on the theme of “Financial cohesion in SCO”, the guests delivered in-depth speeches on financial innovation empowering regional cooperation, green development promoting international financial cooperation, and the mode and path of integration of industry and finance among the SCO member states. The forum also released a research report entitled New Dawn of Global Financial Development: Current Situation and Prospects of Financial Development of SCO and the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Management Committee of SCO Demonstration Zone signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Astana International Finance Center of Kazakhstan, a strategic cooperation agreement with CICC, and a cooperation and construction agreement for the joint innovation zone with five economic development zones in Shandong. The Sri Lanka National Pavilion project also signed and settled in SCO Demonstration Zone, which is the first national pavilion of Sri Lanka in China.

At present, a financial service center has been officially set up in the SCO Demonstration Zone, which has concluded strategic cooperation agreements with more than 20 financial institutions such as CDB and Qingdao Bank. Up till now, 54 funds with a total scale of more than 20 billion yuan, such as Sino-Russian Energy Fund, have been invested, injecting more “financial living water” into the industrial development.

(Jiang Fangmei, Wang Xueyan)