DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION
The blue economy is a development and utilization activity based on the concept of harmonious coexistence between the marine ecosystem and the humanity. It is a modern economic development model that rationally utilizes marine resources, effectively protects the marine environment, well maintains ecological balance, and effectively promotes sustainable marine development. Coastal developed countries are conducting in-depth research and active practice of blue economy, and new achievements have been continuously made.
In order to boost the development of blue economy, China Oceanic Development Foundation (hereinafter referred to as CODF) has been implementing the project for “Blue Partnership Construction” named “Advancing the High-Quality Economic Development through High-Tech Enterprises” and the project for “Belt and Road Construction” named “Boosting the Blue Economy through Marine Spatial Planning”. The two projects have achieved sound results.
In order to accelerate the implementation of the two projects, CODF and Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory have decided to sign a cooperation agreement to promote the development of the blue economy cooperation based on their previous cooperation.
Lv Bin, President of CODF, attached great importance to this work and attended the signing ceremony in person to sign the strategic agreement with Claude Smadja, president of Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory.
Picture shows the signing ceremony
Mr. Lv Bin said that the signing of this agreement not only marks the beginning of our formal cooperation, but also represents the milestone of our deep friendship. The agreement has specified the cooperation direction and deepened the cooperation contents. Taking today as the new starting point, the two sides will join forces and keep pace with the times to give full play to their own advantages while making a good plan, starting at the right time and striving to make more contributions to the high-quality development of marine economy.
Claude Smadja said that he was honored to establish a strategic partnership with CODF. He underlined that China is playing an important role in the global blue economy. The cooperation between the two sides would not only promote the development of blue economy in China’s coastal provinces and cities but also boost the quality development of the marine economy worldwide. He highly commended the concept and prospect of CODF put forward by president Lv Bin on the high quality development of marine economy, and said that in the future, the two sides will overcome difficulties, facilitate exchanges and gather resources to make greater contributions to the project of the two sides and China’s marine economy.
In the summary speech, Mr. Pan Xinchun said that the signing of the cooperation agreement represents that CODF and Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory have jointly built a large platform for international exchanges, information sharing, market positioning, China-foreign cooperation, and project implementation focusing on the development of the blue economy. The Secretariat of CODF will focus on three aspects of work in the future:
First, it will build “one bank” and “two mechanisms”. The bank refers to building a project bank for the development of blue economy in China’s coastal areas and Maritime Silk Road countries”.
The two mechanisms refer to establishing a daily communication and exchange mechanism between CODF and China’s coastal marine economic authorities in provincial, prefecture, and county levels and a daily communication and exchange mechanism between CODF and members of the International Alliance of Blue Economy.
Second, it will build this platform into a bridge in three aspects. One is the bridge between the blue economy development needs of China’s coastal areas and the Maritime Silk Road countries and the investment needs of Chinese and foreign companies. Two is the bridge between the cooperation needs of marine projects and the investment needs of Chinese and foreign enterprises. Third is the bridge between the joint research and development needs of major marine technology and equipment and the investment needs of Chinese and foreign enterprises.
Third, it will host three large-scale international events this year, namely “Blue Economy Entrepreneurs Forum” “International Forum on Marine Economy” and “International Forum for Global Marine Center Construction”.
He said that after signing the agreement, the next step is to fully implement our agreement and carry out our work step by step, achieve our goals steadily and creatively and make positive contributions to the development of blue economy.
Wang Min, director of General Office (Finance Office) of CODF, Ge Yang, representative of Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory in Beijing, Zhang Maodong, deputy director of the Department of Ecology and Resources of CODF, Liu Fulong, deputy director of the Department of Education and Culture of CODF, Li Yan, person in charge of the Department of Maritime Silk Road of CODF, Meng Xue, project director of the Department of Maritime Silk Road of CODF, Wang Ning, assistant of the Department of Maritime Silk Road, Huang Yuanyuan, assistant of the Department of Blue Economy, and some team members from Smadja’s side attended the signing ceremony.