The maritime industry discussed by the three most important EU maritime jurisdictions

Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Joe Mizzi participated at the fifth tripartite meeting on maritime affairs in Greece with Panayiotis Kouroublis, Minister of Maritime Affairs & Insular Policy of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) and Marios Demetriades, Minister for Communications and Works of Cyprus with the aim to further consolidate a common position on maritime affairs both at international and regional level.

Maritime issues are of paramount importance to the three countries, being the three main maritime jurisdictions in the European Union. The meeting was also a follow up to another similar meeting held in Malta last October.

The ministers discussed a number of contemporary maritime issues such as environment sustainability and green house emissions from shipping, the social dimension of shipping and the connectivity of islands.

During the meeting, Minister Mizzi highlighted the priorities of Malta’s Presidency of the EU Council, in the area of maritime affairs.

Both Greece and Cyprus commended the Maltese efforts to bring maritime affairs back on the agenda of the European Union in view of lack of concrete actions to ensure a competitive EU industry in recent years and in view of the importance this industry plays in the EU economy, particularly to the three Mediterranean States.

Minister Mizzi, said that Malta, Cyprus and Greece have significant maritime interests in the European Union and Malta considers that it is of utmost importance for the three countries to continue strengthening their cooperation in order to ensure that their interests are adequately represented and taken into account when policy and legislation are being formulated at both EU and international level.