Malta Maritime News
Setting sail at the European Maritime Days
Malta Marittima had the pleasure of participating at this year’s European Maritime Day conference held in Turku, Finland on 18 and 19 May 2016 – both as an exhibitor in the Networking Village and as a speaker at the ‘Delivering blue growth through Intervision’ workshop. The conference provided a buzzing environment wherein stakeholders in the maritime community had the opportunity to share their experience and participate in lively debates on the blue economy.
Invitation to the EMD workshop - Delivering Blue Growth through InterVision
This Blue Growth InterVision workshop is about sustainable economic strategies through cooperative learning. Participants are invited to help one of five case-holders to explore with them pathways foreword in their Blue Growth challenge. InterVision is the workshop method. It will be introduced quickly after which you can bring it into practice. Your assistance and experience is sought by our case-holders: the Malta National Agency, Netherlands’ scientific institutes, Ocean Energy Europe, the VASAB community and Cultural Heritage Netherlands. The workshop is organized by the Dutch Presidency with the support of her TRIO partner Malta.
18 May 2016 at the European Maritime Days in Turku,
Room LOGI3, 13.30 – 15.00 hrs.
New Malta Marittima agency to bring government and private industry stakeholders together
This morning, the Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth José Herrera launched a new government agency with the name of Malta Marittima, the main aim of which is that of bringing industry and government stakeholders together so as to focus and promote the continued and enhanced development of the marine and maritime industries in the Maltese islands. The event, held at the Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu, hosted the main local stakeholders of the industry, namely the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, the Malta Maritime Forum, and the Malta Maritime Law Association.
The Malta Maritime cluster
According to a study published by Policy Research Corporation in 2008, Malta employs 7,600 people in the traditional maritime sectors, 11,000 people in coastal and sea-related recreational and tourism sectors and 1,400 in fisheries.
These three areas make up for 20,000 jobs out of a working population of 190,000, which represents 10.5 per cent of Malta’s workforce.
If Malta has one infinite resource, this is the sea and, if managed with prudence and wisdom, it is bound to continue generating livelihood for a substantial percentage of the Maltese population and, even then, at an incremental rate.
The pity is that although Malta is, by its very own geographical definition, a maritime nation, with various administrations including its promotion as a maritime centre in their policies, it has not always been the case that due attention and focus were given to this sector.