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EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has pledged that she plans to press for stronger maritime growth in the Atlantic when she attends a key conference on the future of the great ocean later today.
She is attending the Lisbon Atlantic conference - organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Sea, Environment, and Spatial Planning of Portugal - which aims at generating a public discussion encompassing Member-State governance, regions and the entrepreneurs and science clusters. In the context of the European Union maritime strategy for the Atlantic Ocean area, the theme of the conference is “Atlantic maritime business & science for a sustainably developed Europe.
During this event, the European Commission will announce the "Communication of the maritime strategy", presented by Maria Damanaki. The strategy identifies challenges and opportunities in the region and takes stock of existing initiatives that can support growth and job creation. The strategy will be implemented through an Action Plan in 2013.
The Commission is also calling on stakeholders to help design concrete projects which would be able to benefit from EU funding. Ms Damanaki who has been on an exhausting tour of key European cities - she was in Stockholm just a few days ago - told Fishupdate that Europe urgently needed new far-sighted strands of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in a new low-carbon 'blue economy'. Emerging maritime industries like fishing have every chance to become one of the pillars of Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs.
She said: "To this aim, today I will present a maritime strategy for growth and jobs in the Atlantic Ocean area, at a high-level conference in Lisbon. I am convinced that the collaborative platform offered through our Integrated Maritime Policy can help make the Atlantic region internationally renowned for its maritime excellence."
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