On May 31, the delegation led by Amzath Ahmed, Minister of Fisheries, Agriculture, and Marine Resources of the Maldives, visited SHOU and was warmly received by our Secretary of the Party Committee Wang Hongzhou and Vice President Jiang Min. Leaders of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government attended the meeting. Also present at the meeting were leaders and experts from the Office of Science and Technology, the Graduate School, the Office of International Exchange, the Office of International Student Affairs, the College of Fisheries and Life Science, the College of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, and the College of Oceanography and Ecological Science.

Wang Hongzhou first warmly welcomed the delegation led by Amzath Ahmed. After briefly introducing the basic situation and disciplinary advantages of SHOU, Wang Hongzhou pointed out that the Maldives was one of the first batch of countries to join the “Belt and Road” Initiative, and that, as an active response to the national initiative, SHOU had launched a series of high-level substantive international scientific and technological cooperation programs. He expressed the hope that, in the future, SHOU would give full play to its prominent advantages in specialties such as fisheries science, marine science, and food science, and conduct in-depth cooperation with peers in the Maldives in mariculture, fisheries management, marine conservation, marine scientific and technological cooperation, and marine sustainable development, with the purposes of co-building a “China-Maldives Blue Partnership” and carrying out practical cooperation and exchanges between the two countries in terms of marine scientific and technological cooperation, talent training, etc.

Amzath Ahmed thanked SHOU for the warm reception. He stressed there were plentiful marine and fishery resources in Maldives, saying that the Ministry of Fisheries, Agriculture, and Marine Resources had been established for the first time in the history of the Maldives and that its functions highly matched with the featured, predominant disciplines of Shanghai Ocean University (SHOU). According to him, in the next step, the Ministry of Fisheries, Agriculture, and Marine Resources would take fisheries management, marine conservation, marine scientific and technological cooperation, and marine sustainable development as top priorities to actively respond to the “Belt and Road” Initiative, effectively strengthen its cooperation with SHOU, and constantly deepen the exchanges between the two countries in the marine field.

The delegation also visited the “Double First-Class Achievement Exhibition” and the Center for Ecological Aquaculture (CEA) to gain a better understanding of the development achievements of SHOU in recent years. The two sides reached a consensus on their follow-up cooperation plan.

China and Maldives are traditionally friendly neighbors. More than 600 years ago, Chinese navigator Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty visited the Maldives, and the peoples of two countries established friendly ties through the ancient Maritime Silk Road. In January 2024, the President of the Maldives paid a visit to China for talks, during which the heads of the two countries announced the elevation of the China-Maldives relationship to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. The China-Maldives relationship has reached a new stage, opening up new prospects for cooperation.