On June 8th-9th, under the guidance of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province, the International Forum on Marine Spatial Planning for Countries along the Maritime Silk Road and Island States sponsored by China Oceanic Development Foundation (the Foundation) was held in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. Wang Hong, member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Director of the State Oceanic Administration, Ana Paula Vitorino, Marine minister of Portuguese, Gao Xingfu, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province, Sun Zhihui, President of China Oceanic Development Foundation, Shi Qingfeng, member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Lv Bin, Deputy President of China Oceanic Development Foundation, Huang Zhiping, Director of Zhejiang Ocean and Fisheries Administration, He Zhongwei, Mayor of Zhoushan city; Pan Xinchun, Assistant President and Secretary-General of China Oceanic Development Foundation, attended the forum. President Sun Zhihui presided over the opening ceremony of the forum, and leaders including Wang Hong, Vitorino, Huang Zhiping and He Zhongwei delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. More than 260 people of government officials, research institute experts and relevant people from China and 30 countries along the Maritime Silk Road attended the meeting. The forum was hosted by Zhoushan Municipal People's Government, Zhejiang Provincial Ocean Port Development Commission and Zhejiang Ocean and Fisheries Administration and co-organized by National Ocean Technology Center, Island Research Center of State Oceanic Administration and First Institute of Oceanography of State Oceanic Administration.

The theme of this forum is "To carry out marine spatial planning cooperation and promote sustainable development", with the purpose of comprehensively implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, to solidly promote the Belt and Road Initiative, to actively develop the cooperative partnership in the marine spatial planning with the countries along the Maritime Silk Road and island states, to share the Chinese solutions in marine management, and to jointly build a Community of Shared Future for Mankind with political mutual trust, economic integration, and cultural tolerance.

The picture shows the scene of the forum

Wang Hong, member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Director of the State Oceanic Administration, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum

Wang Hong extended a warm welcome to the guests from all countries attending the forum. He said that China, as one of the earliest countries in the world to compile and implement marine spatial planning, has formed a relatively complete marine spatial planning system through continuous exploration, practice, and improvement. Focusing on the common vision of realizing a sustainable development of the ocean, China has conducted extensive exchanges and cooperation with relevant coastal countries such as Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand in the concept and practice of the marine spatial planning, and has achieved positive results. China looks forward to further deepening cooperation with coastal countries and regions and jointly carrying out the beneficial practices for implementing and improving the marine spatial planning system. He said that the Chinese government is willing to continue to provide talents and technical assistance to coastal countries, especially countries along the Maritime Silk Road and island states, and provide the "Chinese Solutions" on the preparation, implementation, and evaluation of the marine spatial planning. He hoped to take this forum as an opportunity and international cooperation in the marine spatial planning as content to further strengthen the sharing of results and achieve common development, to strengthen all-round pragmatic cooperation with relevant countries in the marine field, and to establish an open, inclusive, concrete and pragmatic, mutually beneficial and win-win blue partnership.

The picture shows Ana Paula Vitorino, Marine minister of Portuguese, giving a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum

Gao Xingfu, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Provincial People's Government, attended the opening ceremony of the forum (second from right)

The picture shows Sun Zhihui, President of the China Oceanic Development Foundation, presiding over the opening ceremony of the forum

The picture shows Shi Qingfeng, member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Natural Resources, making a keynote speech

The picture shows Lv Bin (right), Deputy President of China Oceanic Development Foundation, giving a speech at the welcome dinner

The picture shows Huang Zhiping, Director of Zhejiang Ocean and Fisheries Administration, giving a speech

The picture shows He Zhongwei, Mayor of Zhoushan Municipal People's Government, giving a speech

The picture shows Pan Xinchun, Secretary-General of China Oceanic Development Foundation, making a concluding speech at the forum

The picture shows Dostin Mohamed Barlow, President of Lasbela University in Pakistan

Shi Qingfeng delivered a keynote speech at the main forum on the topic of "China's Ocean Management Practice and Achievements". He introduced the overall situation and achievements of China's marine management from the aspects of marine legal system construction, marine economic development, ecological environment protection, and sea area use management. Shi Qingfeng pointed out that there are many reasons for China's remarkable achievements in marine management, among which the establishment of marine functional zoning system is indispensable. He believes that five inspirations for marine spatial planning can be drawn from China's marine management practice: first, it should be guaranteed by national laws; second, it should have a top-down hierarchical system; third, it should be guaranteed by complete technical standards; fourth, it should be secured by reasonable administrative law enforcement control measures; and fifth, it should be supported by monitoring and evaluation technology.

The forum has set up three topics of the "Marine Spatial Planning and Blue Economy Development", "Marine Spatial Planning and Integrated Marine Management" and "Marine Spatial Planning Technical Methods and Capacity Building", which has discussed and shared the practice of the marine spatial planning in China, the development status and needs of the marine spatial planning in various countries, and the international cooperation in the future marine spatial planning, and has reached a number of consensuses, drawing a blueprint for future cooperation. Participants from 29 countries, including Malaysia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Mozambique, made speeches at the forum. They briefly introduced the current situation of the marine development and management in their own countries, analyzed the difficulties and problems existing in the marine spatial planning, and put forward the needs and wishes for cooperation. After listening to the experts from China's marine department, they said that from the results of China's marine spatial planning, it is very necessary to formulate a marine spatial planning, which will promote the development of marine economy, optimize the structure of marine industry, enhance people's lives, and improve marine management capabilities; that China's marine spatial planning has made great achievements and many experiences are worth learning from, and that they hope China will provide support in terms of technology, personnel, and capacity building.

After attending the forum, Meas Rithy, Deputy Director of the Marine and Coastal Zone Protection Division of the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia, said that the forum is of great significance. Although countries have national boundaries, natural resources have no boundaries. Facing the problems of resources and environment in today's world, all countries should join hands to share how to save resources and protect the environment, and this forum is a good platform for sharing. That 30 countries share their experiences in the marine spatial planning makes him feel benefited a lot.

The Conference has issued the Proposal for Marine Spatial Planning Forum for Silk Road and Island Countries. The Proposal suggests to establish a cooperation and exchange mechanism for the marine spatial planning among countries along the Maritime Silk Road and island states, to jointly promote the cooperation in the marine spatial planning, to share opportunities and act together, to develop the marine economy, protect blue homes, enhance people's well-being, and build Community of Shared Future for Mankind. The Forum hopes that the Foundation will provide assistance to relevant countries in the field of marine spatial planning and as the organizer, hold the International Forum on Marine Spatial Planning for Countries along the Maritime Silk Road and Island States on a regular basis. It also hopes that the Foundation will fund personnel from relevant countries to come to China for postgraduate studies in marine-related majors, and sponsor government departments and scientific researchers from relevant countries to be visiting scholars in Chinese marine institutions.

The Foundation is committed to promoting the cooperation in the marine spatial planning between China and countries along the Maritime Silk Road and island states. Government departments and research institutions in many countries have expressed their willingness to cooperate with China and actively learn from China's experience in the marine functional zoning. At the forum, the signing ceremony of the first batch of marine spatial planning cooperation projects was held. The Foundation has signed memorandums of cooperation or letters of intent with relevant research institutions in 5 countries of Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Fiji and Madagascar.

The picture shows China Oceanic Development Foundation signing a memorandum of cooperation with Fiji

During the meeting, the leaders of the China Oceanic Development Foundation have held talks with representatives from 29 countries and held detailed discussions on future cooperation. After listening to the forum, the participants from Myanmar, Madagascar and other countries said that the experience of China has made them full of expectations for the future marine space planning, and hoped that China will provide support and assistance and cooperate together to carry out the marine spatial planning as soon as possible.

During the forum, an exhibition on the achievements of the marine functional zoning of China was held, showing its historical process and staged achievements. China has started the preparations for the investigation and study of marine functional zoning since 1980s and has compiled and implemented three rounds of marine functional zoning so far. China has established a spatial planning system of marine functional zoning at national, provincial, city and county levels, which has been upgraded to a basic legal system. Laws and regulations promulgated by the state, such as the Low on Administration of the Use of Sea Areas, the Marine Environmental Protection Law and the Island Protection Law, clearly stipulate that all sea use activities must conform to the marine functional zoning. The scope of China's marine functional zoning covers all the sea areas under its jurisdiction, and the requirements of the functional zones in terms of the use control, sea-based control, sea area remediation, key ecological protection objectives and environmental protection are clearly defined. The implementation of the marine functional zoning system has scientifically defined the spaces for marine production, living, and ecology and effectively solved the contradictions between production and living, resources development and environmental protection in the use of the sea for fishery and aquaculture, port and shipping, oil and gas exploitation, tourism development and military use. The system has also promoted the adjustment of marine industrial structure, eliminated backward production capacity, and gave priority to the development of new industries such as offshore wind power, seawater desalination, marine engineering equipment and marine biomedical industry, which have made important contributions to the social development of coastal areas and the economic take-off of the country.

The picture shows the main representatives of the countries participating in the forum taking a group photo