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Oceans and fisheries
News announcement4 December 2018Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Western Mediterranean countries adopt roadmap to develop sustainable blue economy in the region

Ministers of the Western Mediterranean countries, at the presence of the European Commission and the Union for the Mediterranean, have adopted a declaration to strengthen maritime regional cooperation under the WestMED initiative. This initiative promotes the sustainable blue economy in the Western Mediterranean, and involves 10 countries from in and outside of the EU (Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia).

The 10 countries agreed on a common roadmap for the development of a sustainable blue economy in the sub-basin to generate growth, create jobs and provide a better living environment for Mediterranean populations, while preserving the Mediterranean ecosystem.

Ministers thanked the work done by the Algerian-French co-presidency and welcomed the incoming French-Moroccan co-chair for 2019.

On the eve of the ministerial meeting, the European Commission and the Co-Presidency of the WestMED Initiative organised a stakeholder conference Towards concrete ‘blue’ actions in the western Mediterranean. The conference gathered over 300 participants. It fostered exchange of project ideas and projects among regional maritime stakeholders (businesses, researchers and institutes, national and local authorities). Project Development Labs with practitioners from across the Western Mediterranean and beyond helped to create strong partnerships and develop strategic projects.

The project ideas, concrete proposals and potential partnerships discussed will benefit from the practical support of the Assistance Mechanism, set up by the European Commission in 2018 to boost the implementation of the WestMED Initiative.

Read more: http://www.westmed-initiative.eu.

Declaration of the meeting of the Ministers of the countries participating in the initiative for the sustainable development of the blue economy in the Western Mediterranean

Details

Publication date
4 December 2018
Author
Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries