The Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee on the Sea met by video conference. It was chaired by Deputy Minister Manlio Di Stefano, and involved representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Agricultural, Food, and Forestry Policies, Ministry of the Environment and Safeguarding of the Territory and the Sea, and the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, as well as the President of the Federazione del Mare [Sea Federation], Mario Mattioli.
Many matters were dealt with, from the relevance of the so-called Blue Economy for our National Economy, to demarcating our Country’s maritime borders with nearby and waterfront Countries, also in light of the Di Stasio draft law, for setting up an Exclusive Italian Economic Zone (ZEE) in the waters around our coastlines, and the existing Ecological Protection Zone (ZPE). During the meeting, a number of parties referred to the importance of this coordination between the numerous players involved in developing the sea economy.
“On the Mediterranean chess board,” said the Deputy Minister, “it is essential to have a decisive national position, while also finding the most appropriate negotiating and judicial instruments for ensuring that our vision and rights are respected, obviously in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as with the European norms. The gradual “territorialising” of the Mediterranean Sea must not find us unprepared, but rather determined to move our Country’s interests forward, in a changeable, varied international scenario”.
“These matters are not only strategic for our Country, but also have highly important economic consequences, precisely in what we call the Blue Economy, and that relate to responsible, sustainable exploitation of the sea and its resources. In the Mediterranean we want to ensure the political and economic centrality of our Country, that is in line with its geographical centrality,” concluded the Deputy Minister.
