Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

Forthcoming in early November under the aegis of the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Alexandar Tsvetkov, an international conference will be held on maritime piracy in the context of security of water transport. This was announced today by the executive director of Executive Agency "Maritime Administration" Sergei Tzarnakliyski at a briefing in MTITC.

The topic of piracy is highly relevant in the context of more frequent in recent years, pirate attacks on merchant ships, especially in the region of East Africa in particular and the Gulf of Aden coast of Somalia. In recent years, Bulgarian sailors became victims, including three captains. Maritime piracy is inevitably present and among the hot topics for discussion at all forums of international organizations related to maritime shipping, explained Sergei Tzarnakliyski.

This motivates the organizers for more active Bulgarian position with which to trigger an international response and to identify ways to tackle piracy. Among them are exchanging experience and discussing the situation with the participants in the maritime industry, added the Executive Director of Maritime Administration.

The conference, which will be held on 11-12 November in Sofia, will be attended by the maritime industry experts from Europe, America, Africa and Asia, European Commission representatives and government officials from Somalia. The theme of the Forum is "Maritime piracy in the context of security of maritime transport and its relation to Bulgaria's national security."

Among the main objectives that the organizers are set to examine is the phenomenon of piracy at sea and to determine the main reasons for its emergence and existence, to assess its impact on the formation of international practices in transport and security, and its particular impact on the Bulgarian economy.

Today's press conference was attended by Svilen Kraichev, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Communications in the National Assembly, Dimitar Dimitrov, chairman of the Bulgarian Association of sea captains, Marin Petrov, secretary of the Bulgarian association of ship-owners, Georgi Minchev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Association for Freight Forwarding, Transport and Logistics, Dimitar Zayakov, manager of “Risk Solutions”, Mohammed Hussein Mohammed, a member of the Committee for International Cooperation of the parliament of Somalia.