European Maritime Day 2013: ESI supports European Straits (Valletta, 21-22 May 2013)

Published the 11 July 2024

Like every year, around the 20 May, Europe celebrated the European Maritime Day. Organised by the European Commission, the conference bringing together all the European players in the Maritime sector was held in Malta, at the heart of the Mediterranean, on 21 and 22 May. ESI took this opportunity to represent the network in the Malta European Conference, as half of the member straits are in the Mediterranean.

Close to 850 people took part in the 6th edition of the European Maritime Day Conference on the small island-State of Malta. Dedicated to sustainable maritime and coastal tourism in the framework of blue growth, the Conference brought together players from various fields (European Union, International Organisations, States, Local authorities, Civil society organisations, researchers and university staff, private companies, etc), including on a political level (first day).

For the European Commission, the event organiser, the aim was to bring to a head European policies relating to the sea and the reality in the field, and players from the different sectors. New opportunities were presented in this field, in the next programming period 2014-2020 (particularly with EMFF - European Maritime and Fisheries Fund), and in the context of the European Investment Bank's increasing interest in maritime and coastal issues.

Some twenty workshops enabled the discussion of subjects directly or indirectly linked to issue of tourism, such as knowledge of the marine environment, the preservation of maritime natural and cultural heritage, maritime safety, innovation, etc.

The European Straits Initiative took an active part in this conference, to meet key players in the European Commission and other institutions, and to highlight the specificities of European Straits, either in the thematic (Maritime Safety) or geographical (on the Baltic sea particularly) workshops. Concurrently, a territorial meeting of the NOSTRA project (Network Of STRAits), the first project of the European Straits Initiative, was approved by the European Maritime Day (only approved event in France). This meeting also enabled the presentation of the first best practices identified by our European partners to participants, linked to the definition of seascapes character assessment and the development of environmentally friendly coastal tourism, themes that were discussed in workshops during the first term of 2013 (see NOSTRA website).

Photo credits: EMD 2013