From April 23 to 26, 2019, a research group consisted of Guo Hong, Party Committee Secretary of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies (IWAAS), Professor Tang Zhichao, director of Division of Middle East Studies of IWAAS, An Chunying, Editorial Director of West Asia and Africa, Cheng Hong, Head of the Scientific Research Department of IWAAS, Professor Wei Min and Dr. Shen Xiaolei, went to Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, to investigate the Blue Economy development in the city. With the active support and strong assistance of Lianyungang City Government Office and Lianyungang Academy of Social Sciences, the delegation held talks with experts, scholars and heads of government departments at Huaihai Institute of Technology (HHIT) (Jiangsu Ocean University) and Lianyungang City Government in succession, and inspected large-scale reconstruction projects such as the New City of Lianyungang, Xuwei Port and Xuwei New District.

　　The subject of the IWAAS group was “Blue Economy Development of Lianyungang”. Since Lianyungang was established as a national research base in April 2015, the IWAAS had already carried out three investigation projects of national of affairs under different themes: “Research on Overseas Investment Strategy of Lianyungang Enterprises under the Background of ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI)”, “Development and Experience of Export-oriented Economy in Coastal Medium-sized Cities: A Comparative Study of Weihai City and Lianyungang City” and “Cultural Resources Utilization and Lianyungang Development under the Framework of the BRI”.

　　According to the investigation, it was clear that Lianyungang enjoyed abundant coastal space and resources with 6,677 square kilometers under its jurisdiction. There were 17 rivers entering the sea, such as Guanhe River and Linhong River, and 1.6 million mu of shallow beach. Besides, 4 million mu of shallow water and 211.6 km of continental coastline there were available to be further developed. In recent years, especially since the coastal development of Jiangsu Province had risen to be a national strategy, Lianyungang City had been working hard exploring the advantages of its coastal location. Positioning itself as an international seaport center city, it insisted on the quality and efficiency of development based on making full use of the sea. In turn Lianyungang had achieved fruitful results in many fields including optimizing the spatial distribution of Blue Economy, promoting pillar marine industries, cultivating new leading industries of marine, innovating the system and mechanism of integrated marine management, as well as in the construction of the New City of Lianyungang, Xuwei Port and Xuwei New District.