Fifteen mid-career professionals, including scientists, researchers and experts working in the fields of oceanography and coastal management, participated in the third “IOI-Malta Training Course on Ocean Governance for the Mediterranean and Eastern European Countries – Towards a holistic maritime policy”. This annual five-week intensive international course was held in Malta from 12 November to 14 December and had participants from a number of countries bordering the Mediterranean, Black, Baltic and Caspian Seas, namely, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Turkey, Astrakhan, Georgia, Montenegro, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Malta.

The course also included a 2-day “Seminar on the Evolving EU Maritime Policy and the Proposed Action Plan – A vision for an integrated Maritime Policy for the EU and Neighbouring States”. The seminar, which was open to the public, reviewed the aims, objectives and underlying principles of the policy together with the EU Green Paper consultation process. It tackled the institutional mechanisms and sectoral responses necessary to achieve the policy, which ideally would not only tackle the European framework, but also point to a mechanism for greater coherence with neighbouring countries. The regional and international impacts of the evolving policy together with the implications of the policy for EU Small Island jurisdictions were also addressed.

The course was run by the IOI-Malta Operational Centre under the aegis of the International Ocean Institute and was accredited by the University of Malta. It was sponsored by the Lighthouse Foundation, the United Nations University/EHS, the International Maritime Organisation and the European Commission.