It is my great pleasure and privilege to convey the heartiest congratulations of the Korean shipping community to the successful inauguration of the 14th Asian Shipowners Forum under the auspices of Australian Shipowners Association.

The shipping market worldwide continues to be in the booming stage, and it is also expected that the firm and brisk market in most trades of liner and non-liner sectors will be maintained for the time being.

Under these circumstances, the eyes of the world are centered on this remarkable achievement. On the other hand, complexities and uncertainties still lurk and linger every now and then in the current world shipping market, particularly those closely related to various politico-economic oriented situations - terrorism-related political instability, the sharp fluctuation in world oil prices, and so forth.

It is therefore extremely important to keep an exchange of views at this meeting in Australia as active as ever. I firmly believe that this Forum enables us to have better solutions as to how to effectively cope with such kind of situations, how to continuously attain sustainable and stable development of our industry, and further ultimately attain our common goal of co-prosperity, co-existence and sustainable development of the world economy as a whole as well as our shipping industry.

Lastly, on behalf of Korea Shipowners' Association, I extend our best wishes for all Asian Shipowners Forum members' continued growth and success in the years ahead. And also I sincerely extend our heartiest thanks to the organisers for their warm welcome and remarkable arrangements in organising this year's Forum.