The President of The Gozo Business Chamber, Michael Grech, attended INSULEUR’s General Assembly and Board Meeting, which was held in Brussels. Present for this meeting were representatives of various Chambers of Commerce from the Islands, some MEP’s representing the islands, some technical people working either for the commission or else for their respective governments in Brussels and also others who came either from the EESC or the Committee of the Regions.

During the morning session the theme “European Strategy on Coastal and Maritime Tourism: Handicaps and Challenges for our Islands,” was discussed by various speakers including outgoing INSULEUR president Mr Juan Gual de Torrella, Mr Henri Malosse (president of EESC) and Mrs Maria Damanaki (European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries).

The speakers brought out the importance of Coastal and Maritime Tourism and said that 3.2 million jobs in Europe depend directly on this. There are various challenges facing this sector amongst which is Connectivity, Seasonality and Competition.

They pointed out that these challenges can be overcome by going for Niche Markets, increasing Marinas and Cruise Terminals and also by having more ship building and repairing facilities available.

The EU Commissioner said that the EU is still committed to the growth of this sector and has made various funds available to Governments and the industry to various programmes. Amongst these there are Horizon 2020, the Maritime Fund and COSME plus some other regional funding.

During another session entitled “Business Opportunities for Islands: The Stakeholders View” the speakers present were Mr George Asonitis (member of the Technical Committee of INSULEUR, Mrs Mirna Cieniewicz (Secretary General of European Boating Industry), Mr Marco Digioia (Director of Government Affairs, Cruise Lines Int. Ass. Europe), Mr Mathias Bini (Head of Dep of Econ & European Affairs, Region of the Guadeloupe Islands) and Mr Panos Coroyannakis, (CPMR Project Manager and Manager of ISLEnet).

During this session the speakers made various presentations. All the speakers spoke from their personal experiences and each one pointed out how important coastal maritime tourism is and what is being done to encourage growth.

The last session was called “The Islands in the European Strategy.” The speakers taking part were Mrs Silvia Delgado (member of the Technical Committee of INSULEUR) who was the moderator, Mr Daniel Calleja Crespo (General Director of DG Enterprise, EU), Mr Spyridon Danellis (MEP, EU Parliament’s reporter on the Blue Growth) and Mr Jean-Didier Hache, Ex Secretary of the CPMR Islands Commission.

Again, the members of the panel made their speeches and presentations. From the general discussions that followed during question and intervention time, President Grech made a few interventions and questions. These mainly were on whether statistics for coastal tourism were being divided into those for the islands and those for the mainland.

The answer to this was NO. Mr Grech pointed out that it would be better if these statistics are separated since the global picture presented might not be reflecting the truth on the issues of the islands.

During a heated debate with Mr Calleja Crespo, Mr Grech pointed out to him that we cannot have a “one size fits all” strategy adopted. Mr Grech also made a brief presentation in which he explained that unless we create a spirit of entrepreneurship and begin this through the educational system of our children it would be difficult for the islands to achieve good results.

President Grech also spoke of the initiative being taken between the Ministry of Education and Work in Malta on this subject. The mismatches situation was highlighted. President Grech also reinforced Mr Hache’s presentation that you need to treat islanders in a different way in order to take out the imbalances, disparities and disadvantages that the islands have with the competitors on the mainland.

The minutes of the last board meeting held in Gozo in November of 2013 were approved.

During the board meeting, Mr Juan Gual de Torrella informed the gathering that his term as president was up and that after leading INSULEUR for many years the time had come for a new president to lead. The gathering unanimously thanked Mr de Torrella for the invaluable work that he had done during his term.

The new board of directors for INSULEUR is now made up of Mr Yiorgos Benetos (President of the Professional Chamber of Pireus, Greece) as new President, Vice Presidents (3) are Mr Michael Grech (GBC), Ms Colette Koury (president of the CCI region of the Islands of Guadalope) Mr Vidoje Vujic (President of the Chamber of Rijeka in Croatia), Mr Giannis Margaronis (President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Chania in Greece) and Mr Antonio Grimalt who is the Secretary General.

Various reports were read out and the financial situation of the members of INSULEUR was highlighted. It is hoped that in the near future chambers will be able to pay their outstanding dues to INSULEUR.

Next meeting is being proposed for the 31st October 2014.

Photo: The Board of Directors and representatives of the Island Chambers of Commerce)

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