On August 29, 2014, Zhen Hong, Secretary General of SISI, discussed cooperation with Professor Yahalom from SUNY Maritime and Professor Guan Changqian from US Merchant Marine Academy in the US. The two sides reached a primary consensus on a series of matters, including participating in high-level international transportation forums, cooperating in the comparative study of Chinese and American shipping policies, carrying out work of the Sino-US Shipping Economics Institute and holding academic forums.