The Coastal City Mayors’ Dialogue was held on the afternoon of September 8 in Qingdao West Coast New Area. Nearly 400 guests from over 20 countries and regions—including China, France, the Maldives, Australia, South Korea, Belgium and Kenya—attended the event.
Participants shared experience on topics such as urban governance, marine science and technology, and ecological protection. They also explored innovative pathways for resilient cities, marine carbon neutrality, and coastal tourism, aiming to consolidate global synergy in marine governance and jointly build a new future of the harmonious coexistence between humans and the ocean.
The dialogue was themed “better ocean, better city” and featured four segments: guest remarks, presentations and announcements, mayoral sharing sessions, and business dialogues. It forged a series of key consensuses on advancing deeper cooperation among global coastal cities in areas such as ecological protection, blue economy, and technological innovation.
During the presentations and announcements segment, officials from Shandong Province and Qingdao West Coast New Area highlighted the province’s marine fisheries development and the national-level new area’s marine initiatives.
Shandong boasts a coastline of more than 3,500 kilometers—one-sixth of China’s total. In 2024, its aquatic product output hit 9.53 million metric tons, while the fisheries economy’s total output value reached 490.4 billion yuan. The province leads the nation in multiple fisheries-related areas.
At the meeting, the Qingdao Initiative on Global Blue Partnerships was released, inviting global partners to deepen cooperation. The Blue Economy Development Alliance of the East Asia Marine Cooperation Platform was also officially launched.
At the mayoral sharing segment, mayors and mayoral representatives from coastal cities—including Yeosu of South Korea, Nice of France, Banda Aceh of Indonesia, Mombasa County of Kenya, and Weihai of China—shared cutting-edge ideas, exchanged practical experience, and discussed shared cooperation visions on key issues like marine ecological protection, green industrial transformation, and smart ocean development.
