Capacity building conference within the IORA-Italy partnership
In the Antonio d'Amico room, at the Confitarma headquarters in Rome, the Federation of the Sea hosted the conference organized by Federpesca, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) and the H.OPES Foundation, which is part of the “Development and Management of Somalia's and Yemen's Marine Fisheries” project focused on supporting the development of a “service-oriented fisheries employers' union” in Somalia and Yemen. Luca Sisto, General Manager of Confitarma, welcomed the participants, and in particular Gatot Hari Gunawan, IORA General Manager, and the members of the delegations from Somalia, Yemen and Kenya, who attended this first day of the event.
Laurence Martin, Secretary General of the Federation of the Sea, stressed everyone's commitment to give new impetus to the Italy-IORA Partnership through this project designed to address the fishing challenges in Somalia and Yemen and identify lines of action. "Like most of the maritime clusters - she added - also the Italian one has a transversal approach to the various economic activities of the Blue Economy, in order to promote greater competitiveness and more interconnected entrepreneurial ecosystems in the territory". The versatility and flexibility of maritime clusters are other important factors for the goal that "we all want to achieve, that of protecting and restoring the health of our oceans by building the foundations for a sustainable economy capable of empowering coastal communities. By accepting this responsibility and seizing this opportunity, we can give a blue boost to the economy around the world ".
Francesca Biondo, Director of Federpesca, recalled that this is a project wanted by Luigi Giannini, President of Federpesca and Vice President of the Federation of the Sea, with his NGO Hope Foundation. “Federpesca has a long history of relations with the IORA countries and their institutional and economic diplomacy. In particular, Somalia and Yemen both have enormous potential in the development of fishing activities and in the production of quality fish products. These days' meeting aims to strengthen this relationship, confer skills and support these countries in the development of a system of representation in the fishing sector. We are in fact convinced that the Italian business community can play an essential role in the creation process that Somalia and Yemen face in the coming years ”.
Federico Gallas, Director of the H.OPES Foundation highlighted that "events like these are proof of how the blue economy can play an important role in sustainable economic progress, social development and the creation of new jobs, in Italy as well as in the countries of the Indian Ocean ".
Gatot Hari Gunawan, Director for Blue Economy and Fisheries Management of IORA Secretariat, in concluding this first day of work, expressed the hope that this initiative will encourage and strengthen the partnership and cooperation between Italy and IORA, with particular attention to the issues of blue growth, the economy circular and the development of technologically advanced solutions.
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