On the morning of September 17th, the Opening Ceremony of Seminar on Maritime Safety and Marine Environmental Protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore was held in International Conference Hall, Dalian Maritime University (DMU). This seminar was sponsored by Ministry of Transport (MoT) and hosted by DMU. Prof. Sun Peiting, Vice-President of DMU, Mr. Wang Hongwei, Director of International Organization Division of International Cooperation Department, MoT and 26 maritime officials from 7 ASEAN countries attended the ceremony. The ceremony was chaired by Prof. Xu Bin, Director of International Cooperation and Exchange Office.
Firstly, Prof. Sun Peiting delivered an address. He extended warm welcome to the leaders and guests and briefly introduced DMU. He said, DMU attached great importance to this seminar and made a lot of preparations for it. He hoped that this seminar could deepen the officials’ understanding of DMU and China’s maritime education, and looked forward to carrying out cooperation and exchange with the participating countries in the near future.
On behalf of International Cooperation Department, MoT, Mr. Wang Hongwei, delivered an address. He expressed appreciation to DMU for playing the host to the seminar. He said that, as one of the major users of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, China attached great attention to the safe passage and environmental protection of the Straits. Since the establishment of the Cooperative Mechanism in 2007, China participated actively in the specific cooperation programs and had hosted 6 training courses and workshops for the Littoral and other neighboring countries. He hoped that, through this seminar, the maritime officials could exchange ideas and share experience so as to enhance the capacity of safe navigation and marine environmental protection.
Mr. Myint, Deputy Director of Myanmar Marine Administration, made a speech on behalf of all the maritime officials
of this seminar. He extended gratitude to MoT and DMU for their organization of this seminar. He said that the straits of Malacca and Singapore was one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, which is of great strategic and economic importance. He was grateful to the efforts that the Littoral States of the straits had made to the safe navigation and environmental protection. This seminar would be a very golden opportunity for the participants to learn and exchange ideas. He said that they would bring what they learned to their countries and make contributions to the further development of the straits.
This seminar will last for 5 five days. DMU has made extraordinary preparations on course design and the schedule, as well as the invitation of lecturers. 9 well-known experts, both at home and aboard, are invited to give lectures to this seminar and technical tours are also arranged for the maritime officials, such as visiting Dalian Port, Liaoning Maritime Safety Administration and Beihai Rescue Bureau- Dalian Base.