The 2025 World Airline Congress will be held in Hong Kong starting from the 17th. The conference, with the theme of "Breaking through Walls and Embracing Change, Promoting Sustainable Development Together - The Way to Synergy in the Global Shipping Industry Chain under Great Changes", brings together professionals from upstream and downstream industries of the global shipping industry chain to explore how the industry can transform towards efficiency, green, and sustainability in the complex and ever-changing international economic and trade landscape. The current World Shipping Congress lasts for 2 days and is a flagship event of the "Hong Kong Maritime Week 2025" that opened on the same day. Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Leung Chun ying, pointed out in his speech that Hong Kong should seize the opportunity of the country's new round of opening-up to the outside world. On the one hand, it should help mainland shipping companies expand their international markets and integrate into the global regulatory system. On the other hand, it should attract high-quality shipping resources from around the world to enter the mainland through Hong Kong, strengthen its role as a "super contact person", integrate into the overall development of the country's shipping industry, and serve the country's high-level opening-up. At the same time, it is necessary to increase investment in technological innovation and collaborative efforts, create new global shipping rules, new industry sources and incubators, work together to promote the green and intelligent transformation of the global shipping industry, and fully leverage the advantages of high-end services such as shipping finance and maritime law to promote efficient integration of shipping elements. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam stated in her speech that Hong Kong has unique advantages such as a common law system, low tax system, and free port status. Its business environment has been widely recognized internationally, and it has formed a leading industrial cluster in ship management, financing, insurance, and other fields. For six consecutive years, it has ranked fourth in the world in the International Shipping Center Development Index. Currently, geopolitics, technological innovation, and climate change are profoundly reshaping the world, and Hong Kong's role as a stable, reliable, and dynamic shipping hub is becoming increasingly crucial. Relying on the advantage of being adjacent to the world's largest green shipping fuel production area - the mainland, Hong Kong is determined to build a leading global green shipping fuel refueling center, committed to becoming a core hub for trade in this field, and will continue to work with global partners to promote sustainable transformation of the industry. Fu Xuyin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transport, delivered a speech at the main forum of the conference, saying that Hong Kong, as an important international shipping center, plays a key role in the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" initiative and the construction of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. The "15th Five Year Plan" proposal passed at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasizes the consolidation and enhancement of Hong Kong's position as an international shipping center, fully reflecting the country's high attention to the development of Hong Kong's shipping industry. Chen Meibao, Secretary for Transport and Logistics of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, stated in her speech that Hong Kong is making every effort to build a "rail sea land river" three-dimensional intermodal transportation system, expanding the supply of goods to the inland hinterland of the country. Hong Kong will establish partnership port relationships with regions with strategic cooperation significance in the mainland and the "the Belt and Road" region, jointly enhance the competitiveness and resilience of Hong Kong and its partner ports, and prepare for the establishment of green shipping corridors in the future. Hong Kong is also making every effort to promote the development of green and digital ports. In order to promote high-quality and sustainable development of the shipping industry, Miao Jianmin, Chairman of China Merchants Group, put forward three initiatives in his keynote speech: firstly, to work together to build a more fair and reasonable global shipping governance system, and jointly build an open and prosperous shipping community with a shared future; Secondly, we will promote the establishment of fair, scientific, and reasonable global carbon reduction rules, and accelerate the construction of international green shipping corridors; The third is to extensively connect various market entities, build an inclusive, diverse, and healthy shipping ecosystem, and use Hong Kong as the preferred highland for integration and innovation, further enhancing the resilience and development quality of the global shipping industry chain. In his video speech, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization, Asenio Domingo, emphasized that digitization is a key driving force for the transformation of the shipping industry, and called on the industry to pay attention to the upgrading of seafarers' skills, advocate gender equality, and fully tap into the potential of global talent. He expects the attendees to actively communicate, deepen cooperation, inspire innovation, and jointly promote the sustainable development of the shipping industry, accelerating progress towards the 2050 net zero emissions target proposed by the International Maritime Organization. The President and CEO of Det Norske Veritas Group, Eremin, stated that China's shipbuilding industry is leading the global shipping green transformation in the fields of energy efficiency improvement and clean fuel application. As an active practitioner of renewable energy deployment, China is also a key supplier of green shipping technology, providing solid support for decarbonization in other countries. He called for the upstream and downstream of the industry chain to work together and promote the green transformation of the global shipping industry through diversified combination strategies such as low-carbon fuels, energy efficiency improvement technologies, ship borne carbon capture technologies, and digital means. On the same day, the unveiling ceremony of the Hong Kong Shipowners Mutual Protection Association was also held at the conference site, which is the first locally based shipowners mutual protection and indemnity association in Hong Kong. The conference is led by China Merchants Group, jointly organized by the Transport and Logistics Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, the Baltic International Shipping Association, the International Shipping Association, and the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, and co organized by the Hong Kong Chinese Enterprise Association and the Hong Kong Shipping Industry Association. The World Shipping Congress was first held in Hong Kong in 2021 with the aim of building a global platform for exchange in the shipping industry. (New Society)