On April 25-26, 2016, NISCSS President Wu Shicun and research fellow Xu Xiaodong attended the 8th MIMA International Conference on the Straits of Malacca 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The conference was themed "Revolving Regional Issues and Their Impact in the Straits of Malacca" and was divided into four panels, including "geopolitics and maritime security", "safety of navigation and cooperation", "marine environment protection and resource management" and "meeting future challenges and synergising maritime cooperation".

President Wu's speech was entitled "Maritime Silk Road: Interest and Implications for the Region" and Dr. Xu's entitled "Regional Economic Cooperation and 21st Century Silk Road: A Case Study of SIJORI".

The conference gathered over 140 scholars, officials and business representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, China, the Philippines, the United States, Japan, Australia, Pakistan and other countries.