Speech Delivered by Vice Minister Huang Xianyao at The Opening Ceremony of the Seventh Aga of International Association of Maritime Universities at Dalian Maritime Universities
16th October 2006

Distinguished Honor Chairman of International Association of Maritime Universities, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa,
Chairman of International Association of Maritime Universities, Mr. Leonard Tyler,
President of World Maritime University, Mr. Karl Laubstein,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

In the golden autumn of October, the Seventh Annual General Assembly of International Association of Maritime Universities opens here in the beautiful seaside city of Dalian. I am happy to see that so many friends from maritime colleges and universities all over the world come here to have discussion on the development of maritime education. This is indeed a grand event of international maritime education circles.

As an old Chinese saying goes, "How happy we are, to meet friends from afar!". I am very pleased to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Assembly. First, please allow me, on behalf of the Ministry of Communications of the People's Republic of China, and also on behalf of H.E. Mr. Li Shenglin, the Minister of Communications, to extend our congratulation on the event and warmly welcome to all the distinguished delegates present here today.

As is known to all, China has a long history of navigation. About 600 years ago, a Chinese navigator Zheng He led a massive fleet of vessels to a lot of Asian and African countries. He has made great contribution to promoting the exchange and development of the world civilization.

Over the past 20 years, with a strong momentum of economic globalization and rapid development of foreign trade and economy in China, we have witnessed a continued growth in Chinese shipping industry. Up till now, China has 210,000 vessels with over 86,000,000 Deadweight tonnage, and has developed trade relations with nearly 1,000 ports in more than 100 countries.

In 2005, the total cargo throughput of Chinese ports totaled 4.91 billion tonnage, of which the container throughput volume has amounted to 75,800,000 TEUs; and the volume of waterborne transport cargo carried by Chinese vessels has reached 2.1 billion tonnage.

With the improvement of the waterborne transport equipment and port facilities, the enhancement of water transport management, and the preliminary establishment of the system for maritime safety and environmental protection, the sustainable and rapid development of Chinese economy has been effectively guaranteed.

Education is the foundation of all undertakings. To ensure a healthy development of Chinese shipping industry, the Chinese Government has been attaching great importance to the maritime education over the past 50 years since the founding of P.R. China. Maritime colleges and universities have been established in many cities such as Dalian, Shanghai, Xiamen, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Qingdao.

With the enhancement of China's overall national strength, investment on education has increased year by year. Currently, China has over 20 colleges and universities for educating and training maritime personnel at different levels.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Government has been making efforts in fully implementing the STCW Convention at its maritime colleges and universities adopted by the International Maritime Organization, pushed forward the process of educational reform, and established the Quality Assurance System, which has improved the quality of Chinese maritime education with numerous highly qualified maritime professionals produced for the Chinese shipping industry.
With the booming of global shipping industry, the world is experiencing a huge increase in demand for highly qualified professionals in shipping. China is also facing the shortage of senior officers. How to attract more promising young people to devote themselves to the shipping industry has been a challenge posed for all of us.

China is a country with a large population; China is also one of the most potentially resourceful countries in terms of maritime professionals. We have planned to develop appropriate policies to encourage and expedite the development of maritime education, so as to make our due contribution to satisfy the global demands of maritime professionals.

We are pleased to see that in recent years the maritime colleges and universities all over the world have been actively exploring fresh ideas and approaches for maritime education in response to the new trends and requirements. The International Association of Maritime Universities has been serving as a favorable platform for information sharing and exchange in the aspect of maritime educational development and innovation.

I believe that with the further development and perfection of the IAMU, it will have an even more significant role to play in educating maritime professionals for international shipping industry, and make greater contribution to boost the development of global maritime industry and promote the cooperation in maritime affairs among all countries.

On behalf of the Ministry of Communications, I would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere gratitude to friends home and abroad who have provided support to the development of Chinese maritime education.

Finally, I wish the Seventh Annual General Assembly of IAMU a complete success, with the extensive and in-depth exchange of information of all participants under the theme of the Assembly "Globalization and International Maritime Education and Training"!

Thank you!

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