STORY: 2024 East Asian Seas Congress kicks off in China's Xiamen
SHOOTING TIME: Nov. 6, 2024
DATELINE: Nov. 7, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:18
LOCATION: XIAMEN, China
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the opening ceremony of the event
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ATHILL DEAN JONAS, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Antigua and Barbuda
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): HAMAD BAKAR HAMAD, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Blue Economy and Fisheries, Zanzibar, Tanzania

STORYLINE:

The 2024 East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress kicked off in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, on Wednesday, held alongside Xiamen World Ocean Week, bringing together international expertise and resources to explore new ways for sustainable ocean development.

Themed "Blue Synergy for a Shared Future: One Sustainable and Resilient Ocean," the congress is organized by the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), the Ministry of Natural Resources of China and the Xiamen municipal government. 

Foreign participants hail China's efforts and achievements in marine ecological conservation and restoration.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ATHILL DEAN JONAS, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Antigua and Barbuda
"We have seen what they have done to the coastal regions, in terms of developing mangrove, and developing the overall coastal regions across this particular area in China. It represents a world-class development that we hope to emulate in Antigua and Barbuda.
We are an island state. We have very small land, but a very large ocean space. And we're hoping that through what we learn from Ocean Week and through the other educational opportunities, we will be able to emulate what China has done in terms of its marine spatial planning and its technological development within using ocean resources to develop businesses, but also protect the environment."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): HAMAD BAKAR HAMAD, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Blue Economy and Fisheries, Zanzibar, Tanzania
"China is influential in the maritime trade. And now, the Chinese have come up with the ecological restoration program, which is really going to benefit all of us. This ecological restoration program is not only going to benefit China, but the entire world."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Xiamen, China.
(XHTV)