San Lawrenz local council yesterday submitted the official application to support the Azure Window as one of the entries competing for the New7Wonders of Nature, The Malta Independent has learnt.

The official contract between New Open World Corporation (NOWC), the organising team of the New7Wonders of Nature campaign, and San Lawrenz local council was signed after the council received full support from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Dialogue and Information, the Gozo Ministry, the Malta Tourism Authority and Circolo Gozitano, among others.

San Lawrenz mayor Noel Formosa explained that following the initial story published on TMID 8 January issue, the council immediately showed interest. Further pressure from this newspaper, including an editorial published last Saturday, resulted in pushing all authorities on board and to officially express their interest to the council, Mr Formosa explained.

While immediately thinking that being nominated for the competition was an opportunity which could not be wasted, the council was concerned that if the Azure Window was selected to be one of the 21 Official Finalist Candidates, with a chance of being voted as one of the New7Wonders of Nature, it would not have the necessary funds to continue with organisation matters.

Once a site is selected as a finalist, the official supporting committee must assist the organisers to ensure a successful visit to site. This entails setting up a coordination team to facilitate all permissions, customs clearance, internal logistics, event management, N7W filming and communications and media management among other matters.

Thus, Mr Formosa called on the Office of the Prime Minister, whose staff immediately offered their assistance, he explained. Dr Chris Said seemed to have taken over the matter and promised his “full support. The Gozo Ministry and MTA soon followed.

Over 100 million voters are expected to take part in the competition and the winners will be announced in 2011.