The 16th World Ocean Forum 'Marine Davos Forum' Opens on the 25th... Three Days Covering Marine Cities, Policies, and Digital Transformation, Both Online and Offline

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The 16th World Ocean Forum (WOF), known as the Davos Forum of the oceans, will open on the 25th and proceed with a three-day schedule.

The 16th World Ocean Forum is jointly hosted by Busan City, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and Busan Ilbo, and will be held from October 25 to 27 at Lotte Hotel Busan.

This year's forum, under the main theme "Ocean as Uniters, Pursuing Global Cooperation for the good of the planet," will focus on gauging global ocean industry trends after COVID-19 and seeking ways to respond to changes.

Considering that "decarbonization" and "digital transformation" are the two key keywords driving changes in the global ocean industry, experts in shipbuilding, shipping, and ports will freely discuss and find alternatives without domain distinctions through integrated sessions.

The sessions are composed of 11 in total: keynote, decarbonization, digital transformation, cruise, fisheries, ocean policy, ocean index, ocean design, ocean humanities, KIOST special, and epilogue, with 90 speakers from 11 countries participating as presenters and discussants.

At the keynote session held along with the opening ceremony on the 25th, following the keynote speech by Alex Levinson, CEO of the Pacific Environment Foundation, a two-track keynote session will be held on the two agendas that will determine Busan's future: Expo and maritime city.

Track 1, under the theme "Ocean and Expo," will feature Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Cho Seung-hwan, ambassadors, and others on stage to introduce the progress of the bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo and future strategies, aiming to garner citizens' support and cooperation.

Track 2, under the theme "Climate Crisis and Maritime City," will proceed with a presentation by Itai Matamombe, founder of Oceanix USA, who first proposed the construction of maritime cities through UN-Habitat. The two-track keynote session is newly planned this year.

The remaining 10 sessions, excluding the keynote session, will be held over two days on the 26th and 27th.

On the 26th, sessions on decarbonization, digital transformation, cruise, and fisheries will be held, and on the 27th, KIOST special, ocean index, ocean design, ocean humanities, ocean policy, and epilogue sessions will take place.

The forum will be held simultaneously online and offline as last year, and the opening ceremony and all sessions will be live-streamed on the World Ocean Forum YouTube channel.

The forum is open to everyone, and those who wish to participate can apply for pre-registration through the forum website by October 21.

Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, "I hope this ocean forum will respond to the paradigm shift in the ocean industry, present directions for the future of the ocean sector, and become a cornerstone for establishing a new milestone in South Korea's ocean policy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.