The World Marine Equipment Conference 2023 kicked off on Thursday in Fuzhou, capital city of east China's Fujian Province, which aims to drive the industry to further develop in an innovative, intelligent and eco-friendly way.

Themed "Carrying the Dreams of Humanity to the New Horizons," the four-day event features one main forum and six parallel forums covering various fields, including shipbuilding technology, mariculture development, international deep-water port construction and maritime civilization exchanges, among others.

While addressing the opening ceremony on Thursday morning, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing highlighted the special role of Fujian in the sector with the story of Zheng He, a well-known voyageur and admiral in Chinese history, who commanded seven expeditionary voyages to different parts of the world between 1405 and 1433. He set sail from the Taiping Port of the province each time. 

"I hope that all guests will take this conference as a platform to showcase the latest achievements, share experiences, deepen practical cooperation, and jointly write a new chapter in the development of the world's maritime equipment industry," said Zhang. 

Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, noted the challenges humanity faces, such as climate change, sustainable resource management and preservation of marine ecosystems, which he said require united and collaborated effort. 

"It's my sincere hope that this conference will serve as a motivation for such collaboration," said the speaker.

"Together, we can chart a course towards brighter, more sustainable future and for our oceans in the world," he added.

To showcase the achievements China has made over the past decade in the field of marine equipment manufacturing, models of a series of representative equipment are also displayed during the event, such as the deep-sea manned submersible "Fendouzhe," or "Striver," the fifth generation LNG carrier and China's first domestically produced large-scale luxury cruise ship "Adora Magic City."

During the conference, three iconic vessels of the country are docking at the Fuzhou Port, including the polar icebreaker "Xuelong," the rescue vessel "Donghai Rescue 115" and "Haixun 06," China's first large-scale patrol vessel in Taiwan Straits. Students can apply to board the ships for a tour.

China has underscored the importance of developing maritime economy in recent years. Zhang said that China will endeavor to make breakthroughs in some core technologies and improve its capabilities in designing and manufacturing high-tech ships and deep-water marine engineering equipment by enhancing international cooperation.