The European Port Cities Network (EPOC) met in Malta last week for a Training Seminar of Waterfront Strategies. The meeting, which attracted representatives from some of Europe’s major port cities, was organised in conjunction with the office of Labour Member of the European Parliament, Joseph Muscat.
The participants convened at the former Naval Hospital, now Bighi Heritage Malta Restoration Centre in Kalkara for an intensive two-day event.
Representatives of the Malta Maritime Authority, Viset Consortium and Port Cottonera spoke about Malta’s potential. Malta’s situation, especially as a cruise destination, was compared to that of Southampton, which was developed into a home port. Sue Mullen and David Wood from the Southampton City Council provided this input.
Günter Warsewa from the University of Bremen and Nikos Papakostas from the University of Patras then briefed participants on a web-based toolset that has been developed to help them take policy decisions in this sector.
The Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Public Works, Charles Buhagiar, spelt out Labour’s plans for the urban regeneration of the Grand Harbour area focusing on the details dealing with alternative and environmental friendly modes of transports.
A much-appreciated input came from Alfonso Martinez of Bilbao Metropli 30, a think-tank on strategic issues that was responsible for the Basque city’s economic turnaround. Mr Martinez spoke about the importance of cultural investments for the development of urban areas.
Labour Member of the European Parliament, Joseph Muscat said that it is an important challenge for many ports to focus not only on the economic, but also on the social and environmental aspects of regeneration projects. Stating that he appreciated the fact that ports competed with each other for business, he emphasised the benefits that would emerge from further synergies.
This point was echoed by Adrian Said from Competitive Malta, who proposed the setting up of a Mediterranean Port Association as a platform using the Mediterranean as a marketing brand. This network could act as an interface body with the EU and national governments.
The ideas discussed during the seminar were then put into the context of the upcoming Interreg IV programme of the European Union by Silke Brocks from the Interreg Secretariat in Lille. The Cottonera local councils will be participating in the future EPOC projects following an initiative taken by Joseph Muscat.
Participants from the various European cities were taken on a tour of the various sites in Cottonera, including those that are seen as having potential and have not yet been tapped, such as Dock Number 1.
The Cospicua, Kalkara, Senglea and Vittoriosa Local Councils helped with the organisation of this event.