L-R: Massimiliano della Zonca; Bas Veerman; Victor Soeiro; David Lutty; Malte Brandes; Fabrice Maire; Ambassador Carlos Semedo; Ambassador António Gamito; Tom Theves; Michel Cigrang; Pierre Herquin; Etiennes Jacques; Credit: ClusterMaritime

On Thursday 16 June 2022, Portugal and Luxembourg held a "Blue Talk" ahead of the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference, which is taking place in Lisbon from 27 June to 1 July 2022.

The event, organised by the Embassy of Portugal in Luxembourg together with the Luxembourg Maritime Cluster, took place at the Centre Culturel Portugais - Camões Luxembourg.

Portugal is one of the co-organisers of the UN Ocean Conference; Luxembourg helped organise the "Blue Talk" through the Ministry of the Economy, the Luxembourg Maritime Administration and the Luxembourg Maritime Cluster.

The event had three main purposes:

- to present the objectives of the UN Ocean Conference in conformity with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: "Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources";

- to enhance awareness for scaling-up ocean action based on science and innovation for the implementation of SDG 14 and engage relevant Luxembourg stakeholders in this process, particularly on the Sustainable Blue Economy Investment Forum;

- to take stock of Luxembourg initiatives and projects to be developed in this framework.

The discussion focused on Luxembourg's green shipping action plan, which will be developed as a joint initiative by the Luxembourg Maritime Administration and the Luxembourg Maritime Cluster in the coming months.

Implemented in 2017 for the first time by the UN, in order to support the implementation of SDG 14, a new edition of the Ocean Conference will take place in Lisbon later this month. Organised prior to the Ocean Conference, "Blue Talks" are held around the world to trigger debate and draw attention to ocean-related issues. Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, announced the country's intention to join the "Blue Talks" initiative during the State visit of Their Royal Highnesses the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess to Portugal in mid-May 2022.

The Luxembourg Maritime Cluster will represent the Grand Duchy during the upcoming Ocean Conference and will be present with a stand, with the aim of showing the support for sustainable use of the ocean and resources.

The Luxembourg Maritime Cluster appears as the voice of the European Network of Maritime Clusters since it took the Presidency of the network on 1 January 2022, and aims to contribute to the awareness of ocean protection at the European level.