More than 300 marine economic experts from 14 countries including China, the United States, Russia, Britain, and Australia, attended the 2009 Qingdao International Blue Economy Summit Forum yesterday in Qingdao, Shandong province.

The forum, emphasizing the theme “Ocean economy leads the future,” centers on ocean development strategies, the development of new ocean technology, ocean management and policies, ocean food plans, the development of ocean energy resources, the development of deep-ocean technology, environmental protection, and more.

"Shandong has a unique advantage to developing the Blue Economy. Its coastline is about 3,000 km long, accounting for 1/6 of the total length of China’scoastline; it is home to rich resources involving marine life, minerals, petroleum, and marine tourism, among others; it also hosts about 1 / 3 of the marine scientific research institutions and more than half of the high-level scientific research personnel. Now, Shandong has strived to develop the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone. The development of China’s marine science and technology education center, marine competitive industrial base as well as the modern ports will make Qingdao a major blue economic zone in the world,” said Jiang Yikang, secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee.

"There is still a gap between China and developed countries in developing an ocean economy. We need to learn from their experiences and build a blue economy with our own distinctiveness, at the same time strengthen international cooperation to improve ourselves,” said Li Jianguo, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

The oversea experts discussed the current status and prospects of the world’s ocean economy development at the summit. They also suggested focusing on marine disaster prevention, global warming and the development of marine service industry, giving us some new inspiration.

By Wang Qian (China daily Shandong Bureau)

Editor: Guo Changdong