An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 1, 2025 shows oversized offshore wind turbine blades being transported from Yantai Port in east China's Shandong Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

East China's Fujian Province -- one of the country's major contributors to the marine economy -- is set to host the World Maritime Equipment Conference 2025 from Oct. 16 to 19 in its capital city of Fuzhou, the event's organizers have said.

This year's conference will focus on hotspots of maritime equipment, promoting the development of maritime equipment in a high-end, green and intelligent direction, according to a press conference on Wednesday.

To date, the conference has invited more than 800 guests from over 50 countries and regions to showcase the sector's cutting-edge achievements and significant milestones.

The conference's main activities include an opening ceremony, 13 sub-forums, and an event covering a review of Fujian's accelerated construction of a national marine economic development demonstration zone and the outlook on that construction. Concurrently, the China Marine Equipment Expo 2025 will also be held.

For the first time, an International Maritime Organization seminar on sustainable maritime innovation will also take place during the conference, as will a marine industry integration and innovation competition.

In 2024, Fujian's gross ocean product (GOP) exceeded 1.25 trillion yuan (about 175.6 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for about 21.7 percent of the provincial total GDP and ranking third in China.

China's marine economy achieved a significant milestone in 2024, when its GOP exceeded 10 trillion yuan for the first time, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Underlining its strategic importance, China has placed the marine economy firmly on the national agenda. A high-level meeting in early July saw Chinese leadership emphasize that advancing Chinese modernization necessitates "promoting the high-quality development of the marine economy" and pursuing "a Chinese path of leveraging marine resources to achieve strength."