EU Transport Commissioner to attend Maritime Cyprus

EU Transport Commissioner Adina Valean will attend and address one of the biggest conferences of its kind Maritime Cyprus 2021 scheduled for October 10 -13.

Deputy Ministry for Shipping, Vassilis Demetriades held a virtual meeting with Commissioner Valean and spoke over key issues concerning shipping such as green transformation and ship crew changes due to the pandemic.

The EU Commissioner praised Cyprus’ constructive stance both in the deliberations of the International Maritime Shipping Organisation as well as on the EU level.

She also congratulated Demetriades over Cyprus’ contribution to shaping regulation initiatives on the European Commission’s proposals on maritime transport in the context of the “Green Deal”.

Demetriades said Cyprus will contribute substantively to the green transformation of shipping with environmental incentives rolled out recently in a bid to encourage the shipping industry to reduce the effects of climate change while safeguarding the sector’s competitiveness.

On the problems concerning crews changes due to Covid-19, the Commissioner commended Cyprus’ actions to classify thousands of seafarers as key workers and for facilitating crew changes around the globe.

Demetriades highlighted the importance of vaccination in solving the problem of crew changes and the need to find an effective and practical solution in making vaccines available to seafarers on a global level.

He also called on Valean to assess Cyprus’ approach for vaccinating seafarers placing emphasis on their country of origin when it comes to long-distance shipping.

The Commissioner described Cyprus’ proposals as “particularly interesting”.

The Shipping Ministry said that Valean accepted Demetriades’ suggestion to host a conference in Cyprus in 2021 for the presentation of EU policies in maritime transport and to inform Cypriot shipping companies on EU financing on green transformation.