Minister Nurkovic met with senior management of MMC Holding group S.A.L, as well as representatives of port Piraeus

The Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs Osman Nurkovic is on a working visit to Athens, the Republic of Greece in order to establish and further improve the cooperation between the two countries in the maritime sector as well as to define the following steps that would contribute to the exchange of knowledge and good practices of the relevant institutions in this area.

During the first day of his visit, Minister Nurkovic met with senior management of the MMC Holding Group S.A.L, as well as representatives of the port of Piraeus, which is considered the busiest port in Europe by the number of passengers per year (around 16 million in 2018). The main topic of the meeting with MMC Holding Group S.A.L. was the possibility of opening an international register of ships in Montenegro for which the company for the classification of INSB Class expressed interest. During the meeting, the advantages and disadvantages of the open international register for the state and the flag of Montenegro were carefully considered, the assumptions that must be fulfilled in order to establish them, as well as possible mechanisms of functioning.

During a meeting with the representatives of the port of Piraeus, the delegation of the Government of Montenegro had the opportunity to get acquainted with the main activities of the port and the model of its management. Port of Piraeus consists of two passenger terminals (one ferry terminal that connects the continental and the island's state and one cruise terminal with 11 berths), container terminal, ro-ro terminal, shipyards and other port facilities. Since 2009, Luka Pirej has been managed by COSCO, a Chinese company to which a concession contract has been awarded until 2053, which currently holds majority ownership over Piraeus. COSCO has been present in Piraeus since 2002 when a 40-year concession was given to one of COSCO's subsidiaries, OLP SA, to manage two of the three dock at a container terminal. Since 2009, Piraeus has significantly improved its capacity and raised the load capacity from 1 million TEU units to 4.9 million TEU units in 2018. In addition, Piraeus's management has underlined that in the concession period in the port of Piraeus, about 600 million euros were invested, and that the concession model required an advance of 60 million euros for the Republic of Greece, as well as the annual concession fee, which in 2018 amounted to around 50 million euros.

On the second day of his visit, Minister Nurkovic will meet with the Commander of the Greek Coast Guard and other representatives of the Ministry of the Commercial Fleet in order to establish cooperation and to consider the possibilities for signing the Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Seafarers Certificates in accordance with the SCTW Convention between the two countries, exchange of experience in the field of security and security of ports, as well as further improvement of the capacities of inspectors covering this area.

A visit by Minister Nurkovic was also attended by Ana Vukadinovic, the ambassador of Montenegro to the Republic of Greece and I Secretary Iva Dabovic. In addition to Minister Nurkovic, the delegation includes Maja Mijušković, Director General of the Maritime Economy Directorate and Bilsana Bibić, Independent Advisor III, at the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs.

Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs