Mur Lura
ADDRESS BY THE HON. CENSU GALEA MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS, ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCHING OF THE EUROMED CRUISES FROM MALTA – VALLETTA 16.07.2001
pr1073
16/07/2001
16/07/2001
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
| It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be here today | at the official launching of the EuroMed Cruises from Malta. |
| The commencement of passenger cruises to Sicily, | Tunis and Naples departing from and arriving in Malta is a significant step forward in the direction of the Malta Government’s objective of boosting Malta’s Euro-Mediterranean sea transport dimension. |
| It has been a long standing goal of my Ministry to | see that sea lines of passenger communications become a viable alternative to other modes of transport. For short sea shipping across the Euro-Mediterranean area to grow it must be better integrated into the logistical transport chain that already exists and it must also provide a quality of service to what the customer wants. The new services that Euro-Med Cruises Limited is offering will ensure that both Maltese and tourists in Malta will take full advantage of this opportunity to visit cultural and historical landmarks around the Mediterranean. |
| My government has been aiming for a long time to | establish Malta as a communications hub for this region. Our effort in the telecommunications and civil aviation sectors have already started to bear fruit and this venture by Euro-Med Cruises will hopefully be the launch pad for our harbour to become a centre for cruise line activity serving both the west and the east Mediterranean. |
| In order to meet the challenge of this increase of | activity on transport systems which go hand in hand with increased safety and environmental requirements, the Government of Malta is totally committed to providing Malta with a state of the art cruise ship passenger terminal that will allow Malta to be better geared to meet future requirements of maritime passenger transport. As a maritime hub of activity Malta looks forward to participating in co-operative trans-Mediterranean ventures that will facilitate interactivity between the peoples of the Euro-Mediterranean region and beyond. |
| My Ministry has also been working closely with the | European Union Commission in its efforts to enhance Euro-Mediterranean Co-operation on Transport. As the foundations for the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area are progressively being put in place, and EU candidate countries, including Malta and Cyprus move ever closer to EU accession, the upgrading of transport systems in the Mediterranean appears more urgent than ever. |
| This upgrading is based on a combination of | structural measures which includes network building, infrastructural development, as well as reforms, including adaptation of the institutional, legislative and regulatory framework to meet international standards. In fact, these two types of actions are interdependent in that the increase in investment flows, required to develop infrastructures, depends to a large extent on the reform of the transport sectors in the Mediterranean. |
| The prognoses for transport growth across the | Mediterranean, particularly sea passenger transport as a result of both vigorous growth of world travel and the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area indicate that there will be a veritable explosion in mobility and demand for better sea transport links in the Mediterranean in the coming decade. |
| My ambition and indeed the ambition of my government | is that Malta will be at the forefront of this expansion of activity, and that prosperity through competition will continue to increase the number of cruise liners using our Grand Harbour as their home port. |
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