Carmen Cano, deputy head of the Delegation of the European Union to China, addresses the 10th European Union-China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair, which was held from Thursday (Nov 5) to Friday (Nov 6). [Photo by Hu Qing/ chinadaily.com.cn]

In the 1930s, European nations like Britain, Germany, France, Finland, Demark, and Russia established consulates in Qingdao and many European people came to the city for business, to live and for vacations, Li told guests attending the fair.

Now the exchange between Qingdao and EU has been expanded and the city has become one of the cities in China which have close contact with European countries, Li added

In the first nine months of this year, the import and export trade volume between Qingdao and EU totaled $7.3 billion.

This year's fair has key events including the EU-China Business and Technology Cooperation Forum, EEN North China Launching Ceremony, EU-China Maritime Industry Cooperation Seminar as well as EU-China Energy and Environment Protection Seminar.

Besides, one-to-one match-making meetings for the companies from EU and China were held during the fair.

Tony Huang, director of the Rotterdam Commercial Representative in China, attended the fair and tried to seek a cooperative partner in Qingdao.

"Rotterdam is a global logistics hub and the real gateway to Europe and more than 100 Chinese companies have established a presence in Rotterdam," Huang said.

Qingdao and Rotterdam are two large port cities in the world and the two cities will have many opportunities for cooperation in the future, Huang added.