First major forum on the new Silk Road organised by the Port of Marseille Fos
The event was held under the patronage and in the presence of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister and Special Representative of the French Government for China, and in the presence of H.E. Mr Zhai Jun, Chinese Ambassador to France, and Jean Claude Gaudin, President of the Marseille Provence Métropole Urban Community and Mayor of Marseille.
The major New Silk Road project (One Belt and One Road), initiated by the Chinese government, places the Mediterranean at the heart of an ambitious and responsible maritime flow strategy between Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The Port of Marseille Fos is France's largest port, and it has the ambition of playing a major role among other European world ports by positioning itself as the southern alternative for access to the European market. Currently implementing an investment plan of 360 million euros over five years, the port has significant reserves of available land to accommodate new industrial or logistics projects of European or international investors. Regional public and private stakeholders also support this initiative. The port and the entire Marseille area are looking to develop cooperation on industrial and logistic projects with China fostering reciprocity and focused on high social and environmental standards.
The Port of Marseille Fos and the Shanghai International Port Group signed an operational cooperation agreement at the end of the morning's round table to materialise this initiative. This partnership focuses on impact reduction, industrial ecology, and concentration of the flow of goods around a long-distance modal shift.
