27/01/2021 09:44
EU Transport Commissioner Adina Vealean accepted an invitation tendered to her by Deputy Ministry fo Shipping Vassilis Demetriades to attend and address the Maritime Cyprus 2021 Conference to be held on October 10 – 13.
According to a press release issued by the Deputy Ministry for Shipping, Demetriades held a virtual meeting with Commissioner Valean and spoke over key issues concerning shipping such as green transformation and problems to shipping crews changes due to the Covid-19 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 the shaping of regulation initiatives taking into account shipping’s global character on the occasion of the virtual conference on the European Commission’s proposals on maritime transport in the context of the EU “Green Deal”.
On his part, Demetriades pointed out that Cyprus will contribute substantively to the deliberations on the green transformation of shipping, informing the Commissioner on Cyprus’ environmental incentives scheme rolled out recently in a bid to encourage the shipping industry in reducing the effects of climate change, while safeguarding the sectors competitiveness, the Deputy Ministry said.
Furthermore, on the problems concerning crews changes due to Covid-19, the Commissioner commended Cyprus’ actions to classify seafarers as key workers and for facilitating crew changes, which concerns thousands of seafarers 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 and in a coordinated way. He also called Vela to assess Cyprus’ approach for vaccinating seafarers placing emphasis on their country of origin particularly when it comes to long-distance shipping.
Commissioner Vela described Cyprus’ proposals as “particularly interesting,” the Deputy Ministry added.
The Ministry also said that Valean accepted Demetriades’ suggestion to host a conference in Cyprus in 2021 for the presentation of EU policies in the field of maritime transport and to inform Cypriot shipping companies on the opportunities to obtain EU financing on green transformation.