The port of Marseille-Fos organized on May 31, 2018, a forum on the theme of “Marseille and its port on the new Silk Roads”.
The event was held under the patronage and in the presence of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister and Special Representative of the Government for China, in the presence of Zhai Jun Ambassador of China in France and Jean Claude Gaudin, Mayor of Marseille, President of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis.
The new Silk Road (Belt and Road) policy, initiated by the Chinese government, places the Mediterranean at the centre of an ambitious maritime flow strategy between Europe, Asia and Europe.
Marseille Fos, France’s leading port, has the ambition to play a major role among European ports of international standing by positioning itself as the alternative gateway to southern European markets. Currently, implementing an investment plan of €360 million over five years, the port has a large reserve of available land that can accommodate new projects for European or international investors.
The port and the whole of the metropolitan territory aims to develop industrial and logistic projects with China, in a process of reciprocity and centred on high social and environmental standards.
In order to develop this approach, the morning’s discussions ended with the signing of an operational cooperation agreement between the port of Marseille-Fos and the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG). This partnership covers topics such as the reduction of impacts, industrial ecology, the massification of goods flows and the long-distance modal shift.
Source: PortsEurope