Chen Hongxian, head of the Guangzhou Port Authority, passed the flag of the IAPH World Ports Conference to Luc Arnouts, representative of Antwerp Port, on May 9 after the biennial event came to a conclusion at Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center.

At the conference, more than 1,000 guests from the economic, port, and shipping industries across the world discussed a number of issues and shared their forward-looking insights on the port shipping industry and the world economy.

Chen Hongxian (R), head of Guangzhou Port Authority, hands the flag of the IAPH World Ports Conference over to Luc Arnouts, representative of Antwerp Port, on May 9. [Photo/Nanfang Plus]

Over two days, the conference featured a keynote speech, six parallel sub-forums, a plenary session, and a group discussion, generating numerous fresh ideas and deep insights.

Santiago G. Mila, president of IAPH and deputy managing director at the Port of Barcelona, spoke highly of the accomplishments made at the conference in Guangzhou and expressed his gratitude to the conference's organizing committee.

The conference also saw the signing of a large number of cooperation agreements including eight sister ports bond agreements between Guangzhou Port and overseas ports such as the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Porto do Acu in Brazil, and three ports in South Korea, the Port of Busan, the Port of Kwangyang, and the Port of Ulsan.  

The closing panel discussion is held during the IAPH 2019 World Ports Conference in Guangzhou. [Photo/Nanfang Plus]

In addition to opening up routes, Guangzhou Port and its sister ports have launched many practical projects in recent years, according to Chen, who pointed to the Guangzhou Antwerp Port Education Center as an example. The center was set up during the cooperation between the two ports.

During the conference, Guangzhou Port also signed cooperation agreements with enterprises that will help it with 5G technology application and green port construction.