HAPO sponsors the Blue Economy Forum, organized by the Delphi Economic Forum
The Hellenic Aquaculture Producers Organization (HAPO) sponsored this year’s Blue Economy Forum – a digital conference titled “The Way to Green Recovery” — which took place on March 2, 2021, and was organized by the Delphi Economic Forum, in a joint partnership with the European Public Law Organization’s Institute for Sustainable Development.
As the global population increases, the demand for larger quantities of high-protein food increases as well. Given that fish are a vital source of protein on a universal level, one of the Forum sessions was dedicated to Fisheries and Aquaculture. The discussion was joined by Lara Barazi-Yeroulanos, President of the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP), Houssam Hamza, First Vice Chair of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), and Ismini Bogdanou, HAPO’s Director of Marketing and Communication, and was led by Philippos Papageorgiou, Director of Aquaculture at the National Fisheries Development Program of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in Saudi Arabia.
The session focused on the improvement of innovative technologies to ensure sustainable development in fish farming, the establishment of environmental and social governance criteria that apply to businesses with activity in the industry, best practices that contribute to the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the challenges faced by the sector during the pandemic.
Ismini Bogdanou, HAPO’s Director of Marketing and Communications, noted: “We, at the Hellenic Aquaculture Producers Organization, are committed to providing transparent, science-backed information to buyers and consumers, so that they may consciously select our Members’ farmed fish. For this purpose, we have developed an advanced traceability system, Best Practice guides, and the Private Certification Protocol Fish from Greece, which, through intensive controls, guarantees food safety, the health and wellbeing of our fish, their top-notch characteristics and a proper breeding environment for them to grow safely.”
The event was marked by unprecedented success, with the active participation of five Ministers from Greece and Portugal, the EU Commission at the level of the Commissioner, and a number of other high-ranking officials, such as the Vice-President of the EIB, two Secretary Generals — from the Union for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation,respectively — and more than 20 industry experts, policy makers and business representatives who participated as speakers and moderators in the Forum.
The event exceeded 1,200 registrants, with more than 700 of those estimated to have followed the event on the www.blueeconomy.gr platform, and another 1,100 people on the Facebook live link.
