The Poster News APP:

Shandong has nearly one-sixth of the country's coastline. Could you please elaborate on the measures taken to make Shandong a competitive maritime province? Additionally, what are the next steps in this regard? Thank you.

Fan Bo:

Thank you for your concern and attention to Shandong province's marine work.

Focusing on implementing the arrangements to "pay more attention to managing the seas and oceans" and "build world-class ports," we have continuously innovated our ideas and measures, deepened reforms in key fields, adhered to land-sea coordination, and strived vigorously for our maritime strength. Solid steps have been taken in building a competitive maritime province, mainly reflected in the following "four accelerations":

We have accelerated the development of the marine economy. The province's gross ocean product exceeded 1.7 trillion yuan in 2023, maintaining the second position nationwide.

We have accelerated breakthroughs in the marine science and technology. Laoshan Laboratory, the only national laboratory in the marine field, has been put into operation. Shandong province has gathered 46 national marine scientific research platforms and has had 16 projects winning the National Science and Technology Awards in recent years, ranking first in the country.

We have accelerated the construction of ports. Shandong province has 29 large berths of 200,000 tons and above, enabling the accommodation of the world's largest ships. In 2023, the cargo throughput reached 1.97 billion tons, maintaining the first position in the country.

We have accelerated the improvement of ocean ecology. Last year, the proportion of excellent quality water in the nearshore areas was 95.6%, ranking third in the country.

Next, we will continue to promote three major actions, namely, the construction of ports, industries, and ecology.

The first action is to focus on building a world-class port cluster.

Leveraging our ports as the province's greatest advantage in opening-up, we will work with provinces along the Yellow River basin to build a corridor connecting land and sea. We will advance the formation of an opening-up pattern that integrates land-sea coordination, intermodal transportation at home and abroad, and mutual assistance between the eastern and western regions. We will strive to achieve a cargo throughput of over 2 billion tons and a container throughput of over 40 million TEUs, allowing more cargo to reach the sea and the world through Shandong's ports.

The second action is to gather efforts to cultivate new quality productive forces in the marine field.

We will focus on new technology breakthroughs. We will make an all-out effort to provide service and support, ensuring the standardized operation of Laoshan Laboratory. Aiming to address bottlenecks, we will advance the implementation of 44 major marine sci-tech innovation projects and two demonstration projects.

We will concentrate on advancing new manufacturing. We will nurture and expand industrial clusters, including high-end marine vessels and engineering equipment, marine biomedicine, and marine new energy and materials. We will build three world-leading bases for the research, development and manufacturing of marine engineering equipment, the marine biomedicine industry, and offshore wind power with a capacity of tens of millions of kilowatts.

We will focus on cultivating new business formats. We will vigorously develop marine ranching complexes, marine big data, artificial intelligence, and other forms, and build and improve a modern marine industrial system. By 2025, the annual average growth rate of the province's gross ocean product will be 6%, accounting for more than 18% of the region's GDP.

The third action is to focus on painting a new picture of harmony between humanity and the ocean.

We will build the Yellow River Estuary National Park and Changdao (Marine) National Park with high standards and implement ecosystem protection and restoration projects for seas, islands, bays, shorelines, beaches, and coastal wetlands to make the province's sea clearer, water more lucid, and beaches cleaner. We will create high-quality cities such as Qingdao, the "Vibrant Ocean Capital," Yantai, the "Fairyland Coast of Prestige," Weihai, the leisurely land of "Thousand-mile Mountains and Seas," and Rizhao, the "Sunny Coast of Vibrancy." The 3,505-kilometer coastline will become more colorful, fully displaying the province's beauty of nature, ecology and humanity. Thank you.