Building on the outcome of the EU-China 'Blue Year' in 2017, an EU-China Oceans Partnership could be officially launched at the EU-China summit on 16 July (see other articles).
It is with this outlook that the EU decided, on Friday 13 July, to authorise the European Commission to sign the "Declaration on the establishment of a Blue Partnership for the Oceans: towards better ocean governance, sustainable fisheries and a thriving maritime economy between the European Union and the People's Republic of China".
In this text, the two parties recognise that the ocean is a common good and that ocean governance, including fisheries, is a "shared challenge and responsibility that calls for closer international cooperation and global action".
The EU and China say they share the objective of promoting enhanced cooperation in several areas: ocean governance (including addressing the challenges of climate change in the Arctic Ocean), the blue economy, and fisheries subjects (the fight against illegal fishing and against unregulated fishing on the high seas). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)