OPENING SPEECH BY THE HON. FRANCIS ZAMMIT DIMECH, PRESIDENT OF THE BUREAU OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA AGAINST POLLUTION AND ITS PROTOCOLS; MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT OF MALTA ? NICOSIA, CYPRUS

Dear colleagues,

Dear Co-ordinator, Mr. Chabasson,

Your Excellencies,

It gives me great pleasure to be here in Cyprus to preside over a meeting of the Bureau of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, and may I on behalf of that Bureau, as well as personally, to convey to the Government of Cyprus, particularly through its Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Costas Themistocleous, our heartfelt thanks for your generous hospitality and for seeing to all the details that will ensure a successful meeting in this magnificent country.

To be in this country is to experience and relish in 10,000 years of history. Standing at the cross roads of Europe, Asia and Africa, Cyprus represents a tumultuous history, recent history included. While it is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, it remains a small country, but it proves nonetheless that the cultural heritage of any nation is not necessarily proportionate to that nation's size. The same applies to your heart – you welcome us with a big heart, with a genuine warmth that makes us feel immediately comfortable to be here.

You also represent an environment that is rich in its biodiversity. We thank you in anticipation for extending to the Bureau members an invitation to visit on Saturday the Akamas Peninsula which is one of the last wild and unspoilt places on the Cypriot coast, with a unique wide variety of flora and fauna, including some rare species. I understand that the Baths of Aphrodite are at the start of these trails and we can only look forward to experience the sheer magic represented by this entire experience, including the legend and folklore that accompany that experience.

Coming myself from Malta, a small island in the same Mediterranean Sea which we wish to protect and safeguard, I can appreciate the Cypriot experience even more directly. It is not only one aspect of geography that we share, but also significant episodes in our past and more recent history that have kept us partners in sharing a similar destiny. The fact that we are now both grossly engaged in the path towards European Union accession proves that parallels with us are not only symptomatic of our history but will also characterise our future development.

As I chair this third meeting of the Bureau, taking place in Cyprus, I am aware that I am soon reaching the end of this term of my Presidency of the Bureau. In this respect it is also an appropriate occasion to thank all the members of this Bureau and the Co-ordinator who have made my experience within this Bureau a very satisfying and rewarding one.

The Progress Report by the Co-ordinator and the discussion on ongoing activities which will be the main item on our agenda is in itself indicative of the vast area of activity that we have been able to cover together over the past two years.

In particular we have sought and shall continue to seek to make the work which we carry out as directly relevant to the peoples represented by all the Contracting Parties on whose behalf we carry out our mission with dedication and commitment. Working on a new logo for the Mediterranean Action Plan was meant to provide us with a modern communication tool that will immediately convey through its symbolism the significance of our task. We know that what we work on is linked to the very livelihood of all the peoples in the Mediterranean Basin since a polluted sea, be it from oil spills or new chemical agents, threatens not only eco-systems in themselves but for most of us would spell disaster to the tourism industry that sustains our economy as well as all other aspects related to coastal development, not to mention the very water we drink which more often than not depends on the Mediterranean Sea as its source of supply. We know all this, but often enough in the political field – be it at a national, regional or international level, what counts even more is whether the peoples on whose behalf we carry out this work, know enough about it.

It is said that perception can be stronger than reality and that is why we must give due weight to all our information tools and communication kits. The Bureau has given due importance to this factor, not least through new publications, translating our work in the main working languages of our Contracting Parties, as well as by making further use of the new information technologies that have pervaded all our lives.

Precisely one month ago, I had the privilege, on behalf of the Bureau, to deliver the Opening Address at the Second Meeting of National Legal and Technical Experts' Meeting in Monaco. The report of that meeting as well as the revised text of the new Protocol will now be distributed at the Bureau meeting taking place in Cyprus.

I understand that the unanimous recommendation from that Meeting is to the effect that a New rather than a revised Emergency Protocol now needs to be adopted, precisely to take into account all the developments that have taken place in this field over the past years. It will be a distinct pleasure for the Government of Malta to host the Meeting of Plenipotentiaries and the Bureau will have the opportunity of indicating the most appropriate time frame for the holding of this important meeting. These developments also indicate that our work as well as the legal and institutional frameworks with which we carry out that work are of necessity of a dynamic nature. We can also talk of moving goalposts but only in the sense that the challenges which loom ahead of us represent exciting opportunities that in turn emphasise the relevance of our task to the peoples of the Mediterranean countries to which I have referred earlier.

The new Emergency Protocol will in particular spell out new challenges to REMPEC that will need to go through a capacity building and reorganisation exercise that will enable it to live up to its new mandate and added responsibilities.

Wearing again my Maltese hat, may I avail myself of this opportunity to assure the Bureau and through it, REMPEC, that the Government of Malta commits itself to provide REMPEC with all the logistic and any other support it may need to carry out its mission efficiently and in a proper and comfortable environment, irrespective of the development within the Valletta port area which will eventually not fail from providing REMPEC with new opportunities. In this regard, I welcome the comments made by our Co-ordinator in his Progress Report and commit myself to enter into immediate discussions with REMPEC to co-ordinate with REMPEC the best possible logistic and other support that may be required with urgency in view of the new challenges referred to.

Another important issue that will be discussed by the Bureau meeting in Cyprus is an examination of the national reporting obligations within the framework of the legal component of the Mediterranean Action Plan. In various international conventions and institutions, reporting mechanisms are becoming crucial tools of the way in which we carry out our work.

They are tools of measurement for us to assess whether or not we would have achieved the various targets we set ourselves. They are also tools through which we can communicate better with each other as it might be relevant to compare and contrast the work achieved in our respective countries. Finally, they can be tools of communication with other institutions and regional organisations. That is why it is crucial that reporting methods become more harmonised and uniform without being unnecessarily complicated that would make them too difficult to handle or interpret. In future they will have a bearing on providing regional and international means of governance and ultimately serve to provide us with a scientific and objective language on which we can all agree.

While reporting obligations are important as they provide the yardstick whereby a Contracting Party's compliance is tested, there is a need to ensure the coherence and harmonisation of the different reporting requirements of the Contracting Parties. This is rendered even more problematic due to the fact that although different international organisations and conventions might cover overlapping areas, they might not require the same information to be reported.

It is clear that harmonisation should also refer to the format of reports, information required and timing, without creating some type of ‘Reporting fatigue' on the Contracting Parties.

Finally, as the international community prepares for the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development, it is not amiss to emphasise the wider context within which we see our work. The World Summit on Sustainable Development will meet in around fourteen months time.

As stakeholders in the prepatory process, I believe it is our task to input to the World Summit our particular Mediterranean dimension. In this process the ‘Strategic Review' for the Mediterranean, summarising our environment as well as our own perspectives on sustainable development should lead to ‘Strategic Orientations', or a framework and guidelines for the preparation of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development which would be an important input into the World Strategy. The excellent impetus given to us in this regard by the MCSD is to be acknowledged, and that impetus gains more weight as we proceed with the full involvement of all members of civil society and in particular of environmental NGOs in this process.

The Rio+10 Process is one within which our Mediterranean dimension assumes added significance. Just as we appreciate that we cannot talk of frontiers when it comes to our Mediterranean environment, in turn there are no frontiers between us and the rest of the world.

Environment has by definition always been globalised, and our stronger awareness of all the issues that it represents, has meant a more globalised approach by each and every one of us who partake of this challenge that links directly with our general way of life and state of health no matter which part of this Planet Earth we happen to inhabit.

These wider perspectives and challenges make the tasks that face us that much more daunting, that much more relevant, and certainly that much more worth taking up with the enthusiasm and vigour that befits committed environmentalists.

Thank you for being here, and for being proactive members of such a task group.