Expo ends with ¥740m deals

The 2019 China Marine Economy Expo ended Thursday with 394 deals worth a total of 740 million yuan (US$104 million) inked, the organizer said.

During the expo at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, 432 new products and technologies were launched.

The expo attracted 455 exhibitors from 21 countries and 97,000 visitors. The exhibition covered 30 segmented markets related to the marine industry such as marine pharmacy and bio-products, marine engineering and equipment manufacturing, fisheries and tourism.

A total of 12 high-level marine economy forums were held during the expo and 190 guests from 20 countries and regions shared their ideas with 4,500 professional audience members.

At the International Cooperation and Development Forum on Marine Economy, a highlight event of the expo, expert panels issued non-official recommendations for the development of the global marine industry.

The sailing boats beside the entrance to the expo. Photo from Southern Daily.

The recommendations include embracing digitalization to create greener, cleaner and more efficient port systems and ocean shipping networks in the global marine shipping industry; demonstrating trust and transparency to push toward global governance over the world’s oceans and aligning technological development and government regulation to protect the environment as countries are unlocking the potential of deep seabed mining.

Over two days, more than 70 global thought leaders gathered in the city to discuss how to best utilize, harness and protect the oceans through plenary and breakout sessions.

“The mantra of the last two days was cooperation,” said Claude Smadja, president of Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory, the organizer of the forum. “There were calls for greater exchanges of information, more transparency, more access to the great flow of data — all so the power of new technologies can be leveraged to benefit the blue economy.”

“It was fascinating to see the synergy between people,” said Stefan Boudestein, business development manager at Cyber Waves, a Dutch IT company.