South East Europe harbours are seeking sustainable standard
Co-operation for common rules in Ten Ecoport
16 September, 14:53This area, which includes the harbours of Apulia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Montenegro, Croatia and Albania, met in Varna (Black Sea), Bulgaria's second biggest city and main port of the country with 10 million tons handled in 2013, at the second conference dedicated to the ''Ten Ecoport'' (Transnational Enhancement of Ecoport network) project. Sustainability is the key word: the meeting is attended by port authorities and environmental agencies, stakeholders which obviously have ''conflicting interests'', underlines Leonardo Damiani, scientist in charge of Ten Ecoport and lecturer at the Polytechnic of Bari. The project starts from a specific region, south-eastern Europe, which is ''wrecked in terms of transport''. But trade across the three seas is increasing, therefore the goal is to reach as soon as possible a common bipartisan protocol, tangibly respected, with some minimum standards of environmental protection, water and waste management. (ANSA).