Press Releases

In the margins of the trilateral Summit between Cyprus, Greece and Israel, a trilateral Ministerial meeting in the field of Environment took place today, during which the Implementation Agreement on the Sub-regional Marine Oil Pollution Contingency Plan was signed, in the presence of the representative of the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean.

The Agreement sets its goals towards safeguarding the protection of the environment in the Mediterranean area of the three countries, by preventing and combating the pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. The Contingency Plan was adopted within the framework of the Protocol, concerning co-operation in Preventing Pollution from Ships and, in case of Emergency, Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea (Prevention and Emergency Protocol) to the Barcelona Convention. Furthermore, the Contingency Plan establishes a mechanism for mutual assistance, under which the Competent National Authorities of Cyprus, Greece and Israel will co-operate in order to respond to marine pollution incidents, either affecting or likely to affect the territorial sea, coasts and related interests of one or more of these countries, or to incidents surpassing the available response capacity of each of these countries alone.

The Ministerial Meeting also acknowledged the significant progress attained in 2017 in the areas of the protection of marine environment in the Mediterranean, climate change as well as water and wastewater management. For this, the Ministerial Meeting declared the ongoing determination of the parties to further strengthen the collaboration for the enhancement of the capability of implementing the Marine Oil Pollution Contingency Plan, for monitoring the marine and coastal environment, for monitoring the evolution of climate change and of the adaptation measures and for water resources management.     

Furthermore, the parties have decided to pursue a kick-off event in the near future, in the form of a trilateral workshop, so as to design a road map for the implementation of a join action regarding the water resources management.

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(MAK/SCH)