INCHEON -- Maritime industry experts and entrepreneurs from home and abroad will gather in Incheon, home to Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main gateway, and Incheon Port, the nation's second-largest seaport, this week to open the city's first global ocean forum, the organizers said Monday.

The Incheon International Ocean Forum (IIOF) 2020, hosted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Incheon metropolitan government and organized by the Incheon Port Authority and South Korea's key newswire Yonhap News Agency, is to take place at Songdo Convensia in Incheon, just 40 kilometers west of Seoul, on Thursday and Friday under the theme of "New Normal, Reboot Ocean Industries," they said.

Marine logistics scholars, entrepreneurs and officials from all over the world will attend the forum to share in-depth business ideas, new technologies and policies and trends in the maritime industry and pursue business networking, they said.

Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Moon Seong-hyeok, Incheon Mayor Park Nam-choon and Cho Sung-boo, president and CEO of Yonhap News Agency, will also be on hand, and the IIOF 2020 is scheduled to adopt a declaration on the promotion of a sustainable maritime industry, they noted.

The forum participants will also establish the "Ocean Leaders Network," a private-public-academic consultative body, to spearhead efforts to promote cooperation and co-existence among marine cities worldwide and develop the maritime industry.

Tan Chong Meng, group chief executive officer of PSA International, Ditlev Ingemann Blicher, Asia Pacific regional managing director of AP Moller Maersk, and Bae Jae-hoon, CEO and president of HMM Co. will give keynote speeches, analyzing pending issues of the South Korean marine industry and presenting the nation's development path to become a maritime powerhouse in the future.

The forum will have four sessions -- ocean cities and ports, maritime and fisheries industry outlook, ocean tourism and ocean environment -- and one special session on inter-Korean cooperation in the logistics industry.

On Thursday, the sessions will also focus on establishing cooperation and co-existence networks between Incheon and ocean cities at home and abroad.

During the special session on inter-Korean logistics cooperation slated for Friday morning, Joseph Martin Fischer, former foreign minister and vice chancellor of Germany, will speak on his country's logistics cooperation process leading to the German unification in a pre-recorded online presentation.

Friday's "smart ocean" session will deal with the fourth industrial revolution under way in the maritime sector and ocean digital communications, while the ocean tourism session will concentrate on building a post-COVID-19 marine tourism ecosystem based on the cruise industry.

In consideration of the ongoing spread of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said, the upcoming forum will take place in a hybrid method that combines the in-person Songdo Convensia events and online discussions. (Yonhap)