The EU-funded ODYSSEA Project, represented by its Algerian partner, Mr. Arslan Chikhaoui, CEO of Nord Sud Ventures (NSV), participated as panelist to the First Sea Forum held in Bizerte, Tunisia on 20 and 21 October 2018.

The meeting organized by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Bizerte brought together experts, representatives of local authorities, civil society and business community of the Mediterranean basin in the presence of UfM Secretary General, Tunisian Prime Minister and French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

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, particularely, 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 of participants in this project, one of the impacts of Cikhaoui’s presentation is that the consortium was requested for ODYSSEA to be labeled UfM.”