Sustainable economic growth requires all transport modes working together as this reduces external costs and ultimately avoids disruptions to our industrial, commercial and distribution structures, said Jacques Barrot, vice-president of the European Commission yesterday.

Speaking at the European People’s Party and European Democrats’ (EPP-ED) conference, which is being held at the Radisson SAS Bay Point Resort, Mr Barrot said the EU needs to move urgently to ensure better use of existing infrastructures to make more efficient use of transport modes.

“Above all, we need to shift away from old modal views isolating sea from land transport. By no means can we allow ourselves to take a narrow, single-mode perspective and isolate shipping and port services from the whole logistics chain,” he insisted.

Mr Barrot said the importance of the maritime sector goes well beyond its dimension as a transport mode. Ships and ports are crucial for the strategic supply of energy and raw materials required by industries and European citizens.

“The European Commission devotes significant energy to pursuing action at international level with a two-fold objective. The first one is to keep the world market open and ensure the stability of the international sea-borne trade system. The second one is to guarantee our shipping operators a fair level international playing field.”

Maltese MEP David Casa, who also delivered a speech at yesterday’s session of the EPP-ED group’s study days, emphasised that European cooperation is necessary with regard to maritime affairs.

Maritime affairs provide the basis for the future of Europe, so cooperation on a new level is necessary, he said.

“Our aim is to understand each other and share information and responsibilities for the common good in a way that reflects the values of the EU,” he said.

Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea, who was one of the Maltese ministers present at the EPP-ED conference, said the government welcomed the European Commission’s Green Paper on maritime affairs.

The Green Paper will establish the benefits of coordinating and integrating sectoral maritime policies in a bid to ensure that Europe’s maritime interests are exploited to the full.

He said the government wants to broaden and enhance Malta’s maritime expertise so that the country would be able to contribute to the development of other countries and to the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The Maltese government has suggested that European cooperation would probably need to take into account regional diversities, he said, adding that Malta believed that the EU should establish a network for regional management that would respect the differences in the nature of different seas.

He said the government wants to broaden and enhance Malta’s maritime expertise so that the country would be able to contribute to the development of other countries and to the Euro-Mediterranean region.

“It would be an authentic way for Malta to fulfil its European and Mediterr-anean vocation as a 21st-century maritime state,” he concluded.