On September 7, 2023, the 5th "Silk Road Maritime" International Cooperation Forum, themed "Sharing Prosperity through Maritime Cooperation and Connectivity", kicked off in Xiamen. Zhou Zuyi, Secretary of the CPC Committee of Fujian Province, attended the main forum and delivered a speech, while Zhao Long, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of Fujian Province and Governor of the Province, presided over the main forum. He Jianzhong, Chairman of the China Institute of Navigation, delivered a speech, and Zhao Chenxin, Deputy Head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Fu Xuyin, Vice-minister of Transport, and Amunugama, State Minister of Investment Promotion of Sri Lanka, gave keynote speeches. Cui Yonghui, Member of Standing Committee of Fujian Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee, Guo Ningning, Member of Standing Committee of Fujian Provincial Party Committee and Vice-governor of Fujian Province, Wu Xielin, Member of Standing Committee of Fujian Provincial Party Committee and Secretary-General of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, and Huang Wen-hui, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Xiamen Municipal Committee and Mayor of Xiamen Municipal People’s Government., attended the forum.
This forum is hosted by the People's Government of Fujian Province and the China Institute of Navigation, and organized by the Xiamen Municipal People's Government, Fujian Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Fujian Provincial Department of Transport, Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce, Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Fujian Province, and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Fujian Sub-council.
He Jianzhong, Chairman of the China Institute of Navigation
Chairman He Jianzhong stated in his speech that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a platform for international cooperation that is open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and promotes win-win cooperation and a global public good widely welcomed by the international community. Fruitful results have been achieved in the implementation of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Practical cooperation in fields such as marine economic development, marine sci-tech innovation, and marine cultural exchanges has made significant progress, and has delivered benefits to countries and people along the route. The opening of the 5th Silk Road Maritime Cooperation Forum aims to focus on the achievements and experiences of the past decade and further plan how to advance the high-quality development of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Chairman He Jianzhong emphasized the following points:
First, we should focus on serving national strategies and the new development paradigm. Building China into a strong sci-tech, transportation, maritime country is the national strategy established at the 19th CPC National Congress. The 20th CPC National Congress further stressed accelerating efforts to foster a new pattern of development that is focused on the domestic economy and features positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows, and focusing on pursuing high-quality development. Achieving innovation-driven high-quality development, focusing on developing a system for technological innovation to promote greater synergy between industry, academia, research and applicationand achieve the highly efficient allocation of such elements as talent, technologies and capital of the innovation chain, optimize and stabilize industrial and supply chains, and generate new driving forces for economic development. The Silk Road Maritime Cooperation Forum should serve the needs of national strategies, industry clusters, key enterprises, etc., promote the deep integration of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, green and low-carbon with the shipping industry, integrate the transformation chain of industry, academia, and research achievements, pool more innovation-related resources, actively serve national strategies and the transformation and upgrading of the shipping industry, and play an active role in establishing the new development paradigm.
Second, we should focus on promoting navigational science and technology self-reliance and self-strengthening at higher levels. In today's world, another round of the technology revolution and industrial transformation is restructuring the global innovation landscape. Technological innovation has become the main focus for international strategic competition. The competition around technological heights is unprecedentedly fierce. The shipping industry should deeply grasp the laws governing contemporary technological innovation, comply with the new trends of green, low-carbon, and intelligent development, and focus on promoting navigational science and technology self-reliance and self-strengthening at higher levels. Efforts should be made to accelerate digital transformation and actively create intelligent, green, safe, efficient, and open shipping. actively explore development modes to bring together enterprises, universities, research institutes and end-users in applying new technologies, promote collaborative platforms led by leading enterprises and involving multiple parties, and engage in collective intelligence research, achievement transformation, and collaborative innovation. We will steadily foster new growth drivers and new strengths of the development of the shipping industry. The China Institute of Navigation is committed to promoting the establishment of an integrated "maritime science and technology innovation" platform that combines industry, academia, research, and application. We will serve the needs of national strategies, industry clusters, key enterprises, and others, strengthen academic leadership, collaborate with the industry to conduct scientific and technological research, promote the deep integration of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, green, and low-carbon with the shipping industry. We will keep improving the maritime science and technology system, deepen international scientific and technological cooperation in the maritime field, and reinforce the training of professionals on maritime science and technology, and make positive contributions to promoting the high-quality development of the shipping industry.
Thirdly, we will strive to break a new ground of win-win cooperation on the Silk Road Maritime. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we need to embrace a global governance philosophy that emphasizes extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, oppose unilateralism, uphold multilateralism, actively develop global partnerships, and jointly promote the construction of a fair and just global governance system with practical actions. As an important pivot for building a community with a shared future for humanity, the BRI cooperation not only has opened up new space for global economic growth, produced new platforms for international trade and investment, but also offered new ways for improving global economic governance. The Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum should further inherit and carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road, integrate the core spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation into the development of the Silk Road Maritime, and actively develop economic partnerships with the countries along the Belt and Road, so as to jointly build a community with shared interests, a shared future and shared responsibility featuring political mutual trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness. Along with friends in the world, we will create more important nodes and hubs of connectivity and start a new chapter of the Maritime Silk Road.
Vice Minister of Ministry of Transport Fu Xuyin
In his keynote speech, Vice Minister Fu Xuyin pointed out that shipping is an important guarantee for the development of international trade and an important link for friendly communication among people all over the world. With the implementation of BRI, the construction of the Maritime Silk Road is accelerating, and the degree of maritime connectivity is deepening. The 5th Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum, with the theme of “discussing port and shipping cooperation, building Silk Road corridors, and sharing economic and trade prosperity”, will play an important role in building consensus among all parties, promoting mutual trust and exchanges, further enhancing the brand influence of the Silk Road Maritime, giving full play to the location advantages of Fujian Province in serving the construction of the BRI, and promoting the high-quality development of the BRI.
Fu Xuyin stressed that, firstly, the shipping industry should keep pace with the times, integrate into the overall development pattern, and play a greater role in promoting the dual-circulation with international and domestic markets and the service construction of the new development pattern. We should actively meet the needs of economic and social development and international trade demand, closely work around the implementation of major national strategies, constantly improve the ability to ensure transport services, promote the stability of the international logistics supply chain, and achieve a higher level of dynamic balance between supply and demand. We should continue to promote the construction of port and shipping infrastructure, shore up weaknesses of inland waterway infrastructure, enhance the safety and resilience of coastal port infrastructure, and create a modernized infrastructure system. We will steadily develop China's international maritime fleet of crude oil, dry bulk cargoes, LNG and containers, optimize the size and structure of the fleet and upgrade the technical level of ship equipment, so as to build a modern maritime fleet that is moderate in total volume, reasonable in structure, green and intelligent.
Secondly, the shipping industry should conform to the development trend, adhere to innovation-driven development, and spare no effort to promote green and intelligent transformation and realize high-quality development. We should seize the opportunity of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, accurately grasp the new trend of green, low-carbon, intelligent shipping development, adhere to the innovation-driven development, science and technology empowerment, and promote the transformation of the shipping industry from relying on the traditional factors to innovations. We should accelerate the promotion and application of new and clean energy such as LNG, methanol and electricity, improve the energy system for ships and ports, and carry out the concept of eco-priority and green development through the whole life cycle of shipping planning, construction, management and operation. We should accelerate the development of smart ports, channels and ships, expand the application scenarios and coverage of new-generation information technology, create new modes of shipping, and stimulate new motivation for shipping development.
Third, We should use the unique advantages of the shipping industry, open to the outside world and actively engages in cooperation, and make greater contributions to the high-quality development of the “Belt and Road” initiative and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. We should continue to consolidate the advantages of high level of internationalization and leading global connectivity of shipping industry. We should give full play to the role of the shipping industry in international goods circulation and friendly interactions among people. We should give full play to the role of the shipping industry in international goods circulation and friendly interactions among people.We should further optimize “Silk Road Maritime” route layout and enhance the maritime connectivity. We should collaborate with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and jointly boost the investment, construction and operation of the infrastructures such as the ports and the logistics parks along the “Belt and Road” We should advance infrastructure connectivity, mutually beneficial market cooperation, and mutual learning and sharing of experiences and achievements. We should strive to develop modern shipping services, accelerate our efforts to construct an internationally aligned shipping service system, beef up the ability to allocate global shipping elements, build a higher-level international shipping center, and jointly establish a global shipping hub.
The Forum including a series of activities, such as the main forum, themed forums, and the coordination meeting (the closed-door meeting). The themed forums will focus on topics concerning the shipping industry such as “Port and Shipping Finance”, “Development of the Intelligent Container Industry”, “Digital Transformation in Ports and Shipping”, and “Investment Promotion for Trade and Economic Development”. We will explore the shipping industry development trends and the challenges faced, promote cross-industry integration and exchanges, and push for high-quality development in the industry. Representatives from domestic and international fields including shipping, logistics, trade, finance, technology and other fields, participated both online and on-site, with a total of over 1,000 attendees.
This forum is also one of the important forums of the 23rd China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT). During the CIFIT,the "Silk Road Maritime" themed pavilion will showcase the development achievements of the “Silk Road Maritime” in recent years and the uniqueness of the members of the "Silk Road Maritime" association.
As China’s first international shipping logistics service brand and platform under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Silk Road Maritime was established in December 2018. Currently, the Silk Road Maritime association has 317 member units,covering all links in the industrial chain including ports, shipping, logistics, port and shipping services, production, trade, and wholesale and retail. The shipping routes named after the brand of “the Silk Road Maritime” have reached 116, connecting 131 ports in 43 countries. From the launching of the silk road maritime project at the end of 2018 to August 31, 2023, a total of 12096 trips have been made through container routes named after Silk Road Maritime, with the total container throughput reaching 14.1268 million TEUs. (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units)