The roundtable of the 8th Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum was held recently aboard the vessel Lujiang Reception Hall in Xiamen. Held under the theme "A New Chapter for the Silk Road Maritime for Shared Growth: High-Standard Open Cooperation in Ports, Shipping and Trade", the meeting brought together nearly 30 leading representatives from ports, shipping, logistics, technology and research institutions in China and abroad for in-depth discussion. Chen Zhiping, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Fujian Port Group, chaired the meeting. Huang Bo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Guangzhou Port Group, attended and delivered a speech.

 

Chen Zhiping read out the 2026 Silk Road Maritime Xiamen Initiative. Participants spoke enthusiastically on the initiative, sharing industry insights drawn from practice in their own fields and exchanging views in depth on the coordination of port and shipping resources, smart data connectivity, pathways for green transition and cross-industry collaboration mechanisms, in a lively discussion.

 

Huang Bo endorsed the initiative released at the roundtable. Guangzhou Port Group, he said, has always been a committed participant in and builder of the Belt and Road Initiative, working over many years to bring high-quality routes into the Silk Road Maritime naming system and steadily widening the network these branded routes cover. The Group now has 12 routes carrying the "Silk Road Maritime" name, with one more to be added during this forum. The roundtable format, he noted, is exactly the "all aboard the same ship" model of cooperation: those present come from different fields, but all support the development of the port and shipping industry, and have become a community with a shared future. He hoped that, building on this initiative and the platform its cooperation mechanism provides, all parties would deepen cooperation further, find greater common ground, and jointly drive the high-quality development of the Silk Road Maritime.

 

The meeting reviewed and unanimously adopted the 2026 Silk Road Maritime Xiamen Initiative, which sets out five major areas of cooperation: tightening the connectivity network to build a diversified, stable and efficient logistics system; deepening the integration of port, shipping and trade resources to build a collaborative and mutually supportive platform; harnessing digital and smart technologies to create an integrated smart service ecosystem; keeping green development as the foundation and exploring a new vision for low-carbon, sustainable shipping; and charting a course toward long-term mutual benefit to build a thriving, symbiotic port-shipping-trade ecosystem. Participants agreed that the initiative offers a clear path for deepening integrated port, shipping and trade development within the regional cooperation framework.

 

The meeting built further consensus and extended the depth and reach of the Silk Road Maritime international cooperation network, generating a range of innovative ideas for a new landscape of integrated port, shipping and trade development that is open, inclusive, digitally connected, stable and reliable.