The city of Ningbo, in East China's Zhejiang province, gathered foreign experts together on Thursday to provide suggestions on how to further develop the city.

A total of 12 experts from nine countries attended the meeting giving their opinions on topics such as international industrial cooperation, industrial upgrading, overseas investment, and city planning.

Li Ke, tenured full-professor of EMBA Course of Graduate School of Business at Nihon University in Japan, said that to break the problems the city's small-and medium-enterprises are facing, learning from people of developed countries is a must.

"Countries like the United States and Japan have successful experiences in dealing with such situations. If companies in Ningbo can open themselves to them, they can get a lot of industrial upgrading knowledge," said Li.

Experts who attended the meeting also expressed their willing support to help Ningbo city integrate their international resources in different industries.

Ningbo has been attaching great importance on inviting foreigner to participate in city development meetings. As of last month, Ningbo has invited 1,066 foreign engineers to work in the city.