The fully automated container terminal at Qingdao Port in Shandong Province's Qingdao, which went into commercial operation in 2017, deeply impressed a group of young adults from 10 countries.

With an operating efficiency 30 percent higher than that of its traditional counterpart, the terminal saves a whopping 80 percent of manpower. What's more, it is the first automated terminal in the world to exceed the loading and unloading efficiency of the manual terminal, with highest productivity reaching 60.18 containers per hour. In 2021, Qingdao Port's container throughput ranked sixth in the world, and its cargo volume took fourth place.

"I think my country, the island state of Sri Lanka, also needs such a port," Hasini Vidumini Weerawarna Pattiyakumburage, a lecturer teaching at the National Construction Association of Sri Lanka, told Beijing Review. She hopes to gain more knowledge in China and contribute her newly acquired skillset to her country after she returns.

Sri Lanka is a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), one of the largest regional organizations in the world in terms of geographical coverage and population.

Pattiyakumburage, together with other young adults, attended a youth-themed activity between July 29 and 31 in Qingdao, organized by the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies (ACCWS), a Beijing-based think tank, and the Administrative Committee of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA). Through the activity, she learned more about economic cooperation within the SCO framework as well as Qingdao's development.

The event was part of this year's Global Young Leaders Dialogue (GYLD), a program launched in Beijing in 2020 that aims to develop a community driving cross-cultural dialogue and communication among global opinion leaders.

Qingdao, an international port city, is adding momentum to cooperation between China and the SCO as the SCODA was inaugurated in Qingdao in 2018 after the proposal had been submitted during the 18th SCO Summit held in the city. Trade volume between the SCODA and SCO countries has increased from 850 million yuan ($126 million) in 2019 to 4 billion yuan ($592 million) in 2021, according to local customs.

Going international

The SCODA relies on its unique geographical advantages, with Japan and the Republic of Korea to the east, Mongolia and Russia to the north, and ASEAN to the south, and it is accessible to many SCO members plus participant countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, a China-proposed initiative that aims to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. The SCODA is now lifting itself to a more international level, aiming to further enhance the area's global influence and competitiveness and create a new platform for Belt and Road cooperation, according to local news website Qingdaonews.com.

Today, the SCODA features a multimodal transportation center, with 25 domestic and international freight train services that cover 49 cities in SCO and other Belt and Road Initiative participating countries, an article on China's Science and Technology Daily read.

Mostak Ahamed Galib, Executive Director of Cross-Cultural Communication and Belt and Road Initiative Research Center at the Wuhan University of Technology in Hubei Province's Wuhan City who attended the activity, told Beijing Review he was surprised by the transportation capability in Qingdao and the SCODA.

"Staff at the Qingdao Port told me that many SCO and Belt and Road Initiative participating countries are landlocked, but Qingdao connects with them via international freight train. So these countries can transport their goods to the Qingdao Port and sail out from there," Galib said, adding he thinks this kind of international cooperation is "fantastic."

According to local customs, in the first five months of this year, the China-Europe freight train service at the SCODA recorded 357 trips, a year-on-year increase of 37.3 percent, accounting for 47.5 percent of the total number of such trips in Shandong and ranking first in the province.

People-to-people communication is important in overall regional and international collaboration, and young adults are an emerging and positive force in this communication, Yu Yunquan, President of the ACCWS and member of the GYLD International Steering Committee, told Beijing Review during the activity's opening ceremony on July 29.

Yu further hopes the activity will encourage deeper interaction between the SCODA and global youth.

Youth power

The SCO countries combined have some 800 million young people, and more in-depth communication with young adults can provide a better foundation for the organization's future development, Yu said. "If we can get them to join forces, a new paradigm for international people-to-people communication will ensue," he added.

Youth, with their creativity and imagination, can provide novel views on global issues, including on the development of overarching collaborative initiatives such as the SCO, Yu said.

Hao Guoxin, Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of the SCODA, said during the opening ceremony that the youth represent hope and a core power in promoting SCO cooperation and sustainable development.

Hao welcomes suggestions from international young professionals on the demonstrative area's future.

The event offered the international youth an opportunity to share their observations and suggestions with local officials, and created a platform for both sides to learn more about each other's needs and wants. In an exchange activity on July 30, Hao introduced the SCODA's development outline and some of the young participants chimed in with their ideas and suggestions on the topic.

Nafeesa Mughal, a Ph.D. student from SCO member state Pakistan who is currently studying applied economics at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Shaanxi Province's capital city of Xi'an, told Beijing Review that the activity has brought young talent to the global forefront.

Moreover, it proved a confidence boost. "You are talented, you are unique; just believe in yourself. This world is yours to conquer," she said.

The SCODA is fascinating, modern and international, Filiz Unal, an interpreter with the Turkish Culture Center in Beijing, believes.

Sarah Marjorey Kisakye, a Ph.D. student from Uganda currently studying global communication and governance at the Communication University of China in Beijing, said even though Uganda is not under the SCO framework, she believes African countries, too, can learn from SCO cooperation.

Young people worldwide harbor dreams of education, engagement and empowerment; their values, goals and commitment to these will shape the future, Yu said.

He believes they have the power to generate the merging of different perspectives. "This is the way of the youth," he concluded.

(Print Edition Title: Port of Call)

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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