Global Economy: Port representatives and shipping giants gather in China's Ningbo for 'shipping consensus'

The 2025 Maritime Silk Road Port Cooperation Forum has kicked off in China's port city of Ningbo. Global transportation giants and port representatives are attending for the release of the "shipping consensus". Chen Tong reports.

The Maritime Silk Road Port Cooperation Forum has released two consensus documents, showing global port groups are unanimous in their support of multilateralism and their calls for dialogue and negotiation to resolve disputes.
Tariff abuse, economic fluctuations, and geopolitical tensions make such consensus crucial in the current day.

CEDRIC VIRCIGLIO Strategic Planning and Forecasting Director, Haropa Port, France "It's only with cooperation we can overcome the different challenges we have to face. With Ningbo, we have very old cooperation."

TAING SAMOEUN Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Cambodia "For Cambodia, as a small country and also a long-term friend with China, we would see more opportunities, especially in enhancing our cooperation of our two countries in the future. As Cambodia looking to strengthen in term of port service building capacity."

The shipping industry is the backbone and barometer of the global economy. Over 1,000 guests attended the four-day forum. More than 200 of them were foreign guests from 44 countries and regions.

OTU ITA OTU Special Adviser to the Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria "In my country, we try to build deep sea port. We believe in China has experience in building deep sea port. We need to come down here."

CHEN TONG Ningbo, Zhejiang Province "The city of Ningbo has the world's largest port. It's connected to over 200 countries and over 600 ports. The release of shipping consensus, along with a variety of deals signed at the forum, set out a clear voice that the shipping industry calls for multilateralism rather than economic decoupling. CHEN TONG, CGTN, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province."