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www.fundaciongaliciaeuropa.eu / Foundation / FGE-Galicia News / Participation in European affairs25/07/2019
Galicia and Libyan cities explore fisheries cooperation under the Nicosia Initiative of the European Committee of the Regions
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- A group of officials and technical experts from various Libyan coastal cities visited Galicia in mid-July on the occasion of a study visit aimed at promoting the development of the local fishing industry in Libya.
- This technical visit complements a European project, the Nicosia Initiative, already launched with the support of the European Committee of the Regions and the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.
Brussels, 25 July 2019. The visit to Galicia is the latest result of the Nicosia Initiative, which the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) created in 2016 in response to a request for support from Libyan cities. European cities and regions have already provided technical support to Libyan officials in areas ranging from water management to financial transparency and municipal management, and have contributed to the development of peace-building programmes for young Libyan community leaders.
This July visit to Galicia allowed 11 experts from the Libyan cities of Tripoli, Sirte, Zliten, Benghazi and Tobruk to see how the Galician autonomous community processes fish and shellfish, as well as how it manages and develops its fisheries resources. During their stay in Vigo and Arousa, the Libyan authorities visited a fish processing plant, a marine management institute and the coast guard, as well as a mussel farm and a fish market.
Last March, Galicia expressed its willingness to support this initiative of the European Committee of the Regions, joining European regions such as Murcia in Spain, Flanders in Belgium and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia in Italy. Several European cities have also contributed, such as Seville in Spain and Nicosia in Cyprus.
The autonomous community of Galicia is a leading fish processing centre in the world and assured that it would facilitate the transmission of its knowledge and experience on the various aspects of this industry to Libyan experts. By joining the initiative, Galicia pursues a threefold objective: to foster local economic development in Libya, raise the living standards of the Libyans and help the country"s regional and local authorities gain access to the international community.
Galicia is the second region to offer support to Libyan cities interested in developing their fishing capacity. The PATH-DEV project, led by the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, focuses on fish certification to enable fish caught in Libya to reach the international market. The study visit to Galicia aimed to explore how Libyan cities could complement their experience in the project coordinated by Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, by developing a fish processing capacity. Therefore, the president of the Regional Council of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Piero Mauro Zanin, joined the study visit to Galicia.
Nicosia Initiative of the European Committee of the Regions
The Nicosia Initiative is an example of city-to-city, region-to-region cooperation to promote sustainable development. The costs are mainly borne by the European Commission, and local and regional authorities such as the Xunta de Galicia contribute their expertise. Partners active in specific areas also provide financial or practical support. Peacebuilding workshops, for example, have been supported by UNICEF and the Institute for Economics and Peace, with funding from the EU and the Italian government. The Italian government is also helping to finance the PATH-DEV project.
Monitoring of Galician collaboration
This study visit by Libyan technicians to Galicia is part of the active participation being carried out by the Galician government within the Nicosia Initiative. In fact, last April, in the Italian city of Udine, the Director General of External and EU Relations of the Xunta, Jesús Gamallo, spoke on behalf of the CoR in a European summit on international cooperation in the field of fisheries. During this conference, Gamallo highlighted, among other aspects, the extensive experience of the Galician community with regard to the management of the sea-industry chain, useful knowledge to offer to the Libyan public authorities.
The Galician representative remarked in his speech the relevance and capacity of the Galician fishing sector (which includes extractive fishing, shellfish and aquaculture), whose turnover already exceeds 8,000 million euros. In addition to direct invoicing, this industrial activity stimulates the operation of many other economic agents in Galicia such as companies in the canning industry, hospitality or trade.
The truth is that Galicia, through the Cetmar Foundation and Galician Cooperation, has a wide activity and a long trajectory and experience in cooperation in the field of fishing, acting in more than 30 countries in Africa and Latin America, where it develops more than 150 projects and services, mainly aimed at supporting artisanal fishing and promoting fisheries research. His background in the fishing sector makes Galicia a solid ally for the development of local Libyan fishing in the framework of this European project to support the regions and municipalities of the African country.
