ENGLISH SECTION
09/06/2025 | 21:45
Mitsotakis at Third UN Ocean Conference: Greece promotes safety in maritime transport
“Greece is a great maritime nation with the largest merchant fleet in the world, thousands of islands and one of the longest coastlines, while the connection with the sea shapes not only our economy and our way of life, but also our identity,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday speaking at the Plenary of the Third UN Conference on Oceans, held in Nice, France.
The prime minister sent a clear message saying that our country, as the current president of the UN Security Council, promotes stability and security at sea and maritime transport, which, as he said, ensure prosperity and stability. He warmly thanked the states that organized this event, which helps to focus our attention on the urgent need to accelerate joint action to protect the oceans and added:
“And this is not a mission of one state, but of an entire generation.”
He pointed out that the Greek government has a very specific goal, a significant correction of the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBMJ), so that it can enter into force. As he said, this agreement is a historic step for the preservation of biodiversity and the international community must promote the necessary restrictions as soon as possible. He also emphasized that the agreement has been corrected and our country will submit its ratification document today, adding that more is to come.
- “I am pleased to announce that Greece has taken a very important step towards marine protection at a national level. Before the end of this month, we will begin the legal process for the creation of two new national marine parks, one in the Ionian Sea and the other in the Aegean Sea,” the Greek premier stressed.
He also said that the government will exponentially increase our marine protected areas and once this is finalized, “we will significantly exceed the 30% limit” before the end of the year, and “we will do bottom controlling in all our parks and of course we will not stop there.”
We are taking – he said – comprehensive measures to ensure that all our protected areas are effectively protected and are not just parks on paper, while he spoke of automatic monitoring, surveillance, and effective administration.
He added that our country is taking measures to restore the recovery and resilience of diversity by creating life zones around the islands, “a safe haven for marine life.”
Mitsotakis also referred to the need to decarbonize shipping adding that shipping must accelerate its steps, while at the same time this action must be coordinated worldwide in order to be effective and that is why Greece has joined the ICS initiative aimed at clean energy.
Moreover, he spoke of the need for a triple-scale maritime connection hub with alternative fuels and that is why the recent IMO agreement must be respected by all countries. He also referred to maritime security, saying that it must be respected by all, in order to promote global political stability, economic capacity, security of supply and sustainable development. He pointed out that legal frameworks are necessary, and stressed that we must all commit together and with actions to save the future.
To protect and secure our oceans and seas, legal frameworks are essential. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the only international framework we have for the maritime sector and a solid foundation for global governance at sea, the importance of which is confirmed today by the BBNJ Agreement.
Source: ANA – MPA
