Blue Sea Land is one of the most important international events taking place in Sicily. Organised by the District of Fishing and Blue Growth, in close collaboration with the Sicilian Region, the City of Mazara del Vallo and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The event takes place inside the Casbah of Mazara del Vallo, a historic area famous fo its series of alleys of Arab origin where different cultures, ethnicities and religions peacefully coexist. The last edition of Blue Sea Land was attended by 58 foreign business and institutional delegations, 8 ministers of Agriculture, Fisheries and Scientific Research and as many as 32 ambassadors from participating countries. Over 1500 commercial meetings promoted by the Foreign Trade Institute (ICE) and the Sicilian Region, several scientific meetings and high profile cultural events, performances by artists from African and Mediterranean countries, 100 accredited journalists and over 150,000 visitors from all over the world.
Blue Sea Land aims to enhance the resources of the agro-fish-food and energy supply chains, their excellence and territories, the economy of dialogue and cooperation between peoples. The topics dealt with every year at a high scientific and cultural level: water, the fight against food waste, circular economy, blue economy. Priorities which are shared by the many participants coming from Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Italy’s partnership with IORA aims at widening relations between the Mediterranean region and IORA member states, while promoting growth, sustainable development and regional economic cooperation. This is why for the first time, the 2018 edition of Blue Sea Land, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hosted an Italy-IORA event with the participation of IORA Secretary General Nomvuyo Nokwe and the Minister of Agriculture and fisheries of Kenya. High level representatives and Ambassadors from the SouthAfrican Chair of IORA and IORA member States such as India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Somalia, also intervened.
The meeting was an opportunity to raise awareness about IORA, thus underlining that as a maritime nation by history and geography, and as a member of the European Union who is particularly focused on maritime economy, Italy has been playing a leading role, both bilaterally and within regional fora, in strengthening dialogue between the countries of the Mediterranean.
We believe it is crucial today to stimulate the development of an enlarged cooperation area, covering both the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, two regions which can rely on an extraordinary richness of natural resources, cultural heritage and diversity of people, places and economies.