SPEECH BY THE HON TONIO BORG, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS, DURING THE OPENING OF THE TRAINING AND INFORMATION COURSE ON MARITIME RISKS (PHASE 1) - EURO-MED PILOT PROJECT ON CIVIL PROTECTION ORGANISED BY THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CENTRE ON INSULAR COASTAL DYNAM

Mr President

Your Excellencies

Distinguished Guests

It is with great pleasure that I address this first gathering in Malta of experts from various countries on maritime risks under the EuroMed Project on Civil Protection. The project is an Italian-Egyptian initiative having as an objective the gradual creation of a Euro-Mediterranean system of disaster prevention, mitigation and management of natural and man-made disasters. The project falls under the Confidence Building Measures envisaged in the Action Plan drawn up on the Security and Political Dialogue of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. Its basic purpose is to contribute to enhance trustful relations in the region by promoting cooperation and interaction between relevant institutions of the participants in the Barcelona Process. The Euro-Med Civil Protection Project is intended to give practical application to this concept.

From the very first preparatory meeting relating to the Pilot Project which was held in Rome in September, 1997, Malta made clear its interest in maritime risks in view of its critical location in the very centre of the Mediterranean Sea – one of the most vulnerable geographical positions in the world for man-made and natural disasters at sea. Because of this and as a result of the frequent passage of freighters transporting goods, Malta is exposed to pollution by hydrocarbons and other harmful substances – especially chemicals. It is widely known that maritime traffic in the Mediterranean has grown more intense than in any other navigable basin. In fact, although the Mediterranean accounts for only 0.7% of the world's water surface, it however hosts about 25% of the world's maritime transport of oil and petroleum products. According to some estimates the maritime transport volume in the Mediterranean will reach unprecedented peaks over the next few years.

This trend is the result of growing energy demand and increased terminal capacity. Moreover, the Mediterranean hosts a large number of highly advanced plants refining a large share of the petroleum products worldwide. As a result the Mediterranean Sea and coastline are constantly under threat by possible oil-spills. In the case of Malta, suffice it to state that under normal meteorological and marine conditions a medium sized oil-spill in the seas North-West of Malta could reach the island in less than two days. Likewise attention needs to be given to unauthorised dumping at sea through flushing of tanks.

There are also land-based sources of possible contamination that represent an 85% risk that could cause a major disaster. These would result from accumulation of untreated municipal sewage or agricultural run-off. Likewise loading and unloading of oil or chemical at sea, waste and affluent flows into the sea should be considered as sources of major concern for all countries around the Mediterranean. One should not forget that the Mediterranean is essentially a closed sea with no tides and hardly any renewal. It is a major trade route and, as stated, unfortunately a large depository of waste.

Thus for Malta maritime risks – the protection of the coastline and the marine environment – undoubtedly represent a major priority. A substantial percentage of the national product of the Maltese islands is mainly based on tourist activities which, owing to the moderate climate and the geographical position, are almost exclusively concentrated around the coastline. Mainly for these reasons the Maltese authorities have identified "the coastline protection and the marine environment at large as representing without doubt the absolute priority" in the planning and realisation of a Master Plan for Civil Protection for the Island.

Conscious of the importance of this matter, the Government of Malta was one of the original signatories of the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution whereby contracting parties assumed individual commitments for arresting, and possibly reversing the degradation of the Mediterranean environment. Malta also ratified the protocol concerning cooperation in combating pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by oil and other harmful substances in cases of emergency. In addition Malta offered to host the institution created by the Convention for the purpose of accumulating information and disseminating it in a usable manner to contracting parties and to provide assistance to individual states in building up a response capability. Malta's offer was accepted and the centre known as REMPEC, or the Marine Antipollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean, was established on the island and is proving to be a source of major information to all concerned.

The International Maritime Organisation, the UN specialised agency, is also represented in Malta by IMO the International Law Institute which is located at the University of Malta and hosts 20 students each academic year for post-graduate courses in Maritime Law. Students are selected from different developing countries. The institute is committed to enhancing the safety of international shipping and the protection of the marine environment.

Malta is also one of the promoters and original signatories of the Council of Europe Open Partial Agreement on Major Hazards. As part of the Agreement, Malta hosts the European Centre on Insular Coastal Dynamics, in short known also as ICoD. This Centre is situated in this very same building where we are hosting this meeting. I hope the delegates will have the time to visit and go around the Centre while in Malta. While the majority of other centres under the Agreement are specialised in seismic related disasters those based in Malta and Monaco address maritime related issues. The general aim of the Malta Centre is to assist coastal states in improving their capabilities in the assessment, prevention, monitoring and control of major marine contamination hazards.

ICoD is also a party together with the University of Catania to project SEAWATCH that was launched in June 1997 with the aim of providing a central Mediterranean seawatch in Malta by supplying operational, scientific and technical expertise existing in Malta and Sicily. The project comprises the cooperation agreement between the University of Catania and the University of Malta and is funded by the Italian Government under the Italo-Maltese Financial Protocol. The Project includes the permanent monitoring of the Mediterranean marine environment, using mainly satellite and airborne remote sensing techniques. SEAWATCH can also play an important part in assisting civil protection activities for both preventing risks and undertaking intervention measures under emergency situations.

These projects together with the Marine Environmental Risk System (so called MERMS) which was developed by the Malta Maritime Authority with assistance from the European Union have made it possible for the pertinent Maltese authorities to better assess and identify the dangers that threaten the Island's marine environment. With the implementation of MERMS it is possible for the authorities to set up an Emergency Control System which enables fast, accurate and effective deployment of personnel and combating resources in the event of an emergency involving potential hazard to the Maltese marine environment.

I would like in conclusion to mention also recent developments in Malta with regards to civil protection. In Malta up to 1989 there was no specific structure to cater for disasters. In that year Government decided to set up a Directorate of Civil Protection as a central coordinating agency of the country's resources and services in the event of a disaster. The Directorate encompassed all the various departments of government normally associated with an emergency. In 1994 thefirst steps were taken towards the creation of a department of civil protection. Since then the department has continued to grow and as a result of aid from Italy under a bilateral agreement on civil protection and through the financial protocol existing between the two countries it has been possible to equip the new department with the necessary resources, human and otherwise, to deal with a wide range of risks on land and sea, both natural and those induced by man. In November 1999 Parliament enacted a Civil Protection Act that provided for the setting up by law of the various structures related to civil protection, including that of a Civil Protection Department. On 15^thJanuary 2000 this Department was officially opened and formally set up through a handing over ceremony of rescue and fire services from the Police Department, where they had traditionally been established, to the newly formed Department of Civil Protection.

Over the years the international community has become increasingly aware of the need for countries, especially those living in close proximity, to tackle jointly and cooperatively their efforts both to prevent disasters from happening as well as to deal with their effects when they unfortunately occur. In the past international response was mainly directed towards relief activities, but it is now increasingly realised that the consequences of disasters are in many instances so great and global in scale that the greatest effort of nations in this area should be towards planning and prevention. Experiences over the years have shown that in most disaster situations no country can deal with them in isolation. This applies especially to a disaster at sea. In this regard, therefore, this EUROMED initiative that we are inaugurating today is very important. A second training course on maritime risks, likewise under the auspices of the EUROMED Civil Protection Project, will also be held in Malta next November-December. This will be the second phase of the course we are holding now and is intended for managers.

In closing, therefore, I wish to extend to all participants a warm welcome to Malta and trust that they will have a fruitful and successful meeting. I hope they will also have the time to visit and see some of the historical and touristic sites around Valletta and other parts of Malta and that one of the results of this meeting will be that they will establish stronger links between them in the hope that by coming to know each other they will be in a better position to work together to secure better understanding and cooperation given the interdependence of the institutions and countries they represent in securing the required coordination and collaboration throughout the region in the event of a disaster at sea.

Thank you.