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The rapid development of China's ports, harbors and water transportation has opened up new opportunities for international business, Inoue Satoshi, general secretary of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), said recently.

Satoshi said the IAPH was satisfied with the fast development of its 12 member ports in the country, with Shanghai edging up to the world's fifth largest container port which handles 6.33 million TEUs (twenty feet equivalent units) a year.

Satoshi is here attending the Marine Port China 2002 and the Eighth International Exhibition on Ports, Waterway Construction, Shipping and Logistics, which opened recently.

The IAPH will hold its 25th general convention on the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2005 in Shanghai, a leading economic hub in Asia and a would-be international shipping center, according to the general secretary.

Some 120 enterprises from 16 countries including the United States, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium, put on display their advanced technologies and products, including a variety machines and equipment used at harbors and ports at Marine Port China 2002.

Authorities of a number of leading international harbors also showed their development plans to Chinese visitors to the opening ceremony.

Mu Lan, representative of the Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey, said China has provided vast business opportunities for foreign companies in ports and related enterprises since its entry into the World Trade Organization and the subsequent lessening of restrictions over foreign interests in the port sector.