The EU-funded ODYSSEA Project, represented by its Algerian partner, Arslan Chikhaoui, CEO of Nord Sud Ventures (NSV), participated as panelist at the First Sea Forum held in Bizerte, Tunisia on October 20 – 21, 2018.
The meeting, organized by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), brought together experts, representatives of local authorities, civil society and business community of the Mediterranean basin in the presence of UfM Secretary General Nasser Kamel, Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, and French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian.
During the first day of this meeting, dedicated to key topics such as maritime environment, technologies and the sea, maritime professions, tourism and maritime culture. Mr. Chikhaoui presented the ODYSSEA project. He focused, particularly, on the fact that it is an innovative platform for collecting and processing, in real time, marine data and information from the Mediterranean by integrating existing satellite data platforms easily accessible to multiple end-users (economic operators, scientific community, NGOs, Government institutions and policy makers, etc.)
“The ODYSSEA Project contributes to the development of exponential and sustainable blue growth and tends to fill the gap in terms of capacity and skills between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean,” Arslan Chikhaoui emphasized.
Beyond the interest expressed by participants in the ODYSSEA Project, Chikhaoui’s presentation also led the UfM to propose that ODYSSEA join the consortium and carry the UfM label.
