Creed announces Cork City as host city for European Maritime Day 2020
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D., congratulates Cork City on being designated as the host city for European Maritime Day in 2020 by the Council of the European Union. European Maritime Day is the flagship event in the European Union’s maritime calendar, consisting of a two day conference with over 1,000 stakeholders from across the European Union coming together to discuss the development of this sector. This will be the first time that Ireland has hosted this flagship event. SeaFest, Ireland’s national maritime festival, will take place in Cork in conjunction with the conference.
Speaking on foot of the announcement, Minister Creed said “My congratulations to Cork City on securing this prestigious event for the city. Cork is the ideal location for European Maritime Day and it was my honour to support the nomination. Cork is a vibrant, bustling port city with a dynamic and energetic marine community, as well as rich maritime history.”
The Minister continued ”European Maritime Day in 2020 will coincide with the 300th anniversary of the Cork Royal Yacht Club, one of the oldest yacht clubs in the world. 2020 also coincides with a target date set in our national integrated maritime plan, Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth, and so presents an opportunity to demonstrate to our European colleagues how Ireland has developed this vital sector of our economy. In conjunction with the conference our national maritime festival, SeaFest, will take place in Cork. This festival has truly captured the public imagination with an attendance of 60,000 in Galway in July in 2016. It is this enthusiasm, this embracing of our maritime culture that we can bring to the hosting of European Maritime Day in 2020.”
Note for Editors:
In 20 May 2008, a joint declaration by the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU designated May 20th as European Maritime Day, with the aim of creating a forum for people from across the maritime world to network, meet, discuss, debate, co-operate and collaborate in this economically vital sector.
European Maritime Day consists of a series of events across Europe, with its anchor event, the European Maritime Day Conference, organised each year by the Commission in a different European country. Also announced as hosts today, were Den Helder, Netherlands in 2021, Ravenna, Italy 2022, Brest, France 2023, Svendborg, Denmark, 2024.
To view this Press Release as a PDF: DAFMPR 116/2017 (pdf 366Kb)
Date Released: 26 June 2017
