In the framework of the decision that was taken during the First International Symposium on Mediterranean Trade and Port Cities that was held on the 25-26th of September 2008 the working groups of "Tourism, Logistics", "Education-Culture and Social Cooperation" and "Trade and Economic Cooperation" were created. Besides, an Executive Committee was created in order to manage the activities of the Congress.

The Working Group and the Executive Committee meetings were held on the 5th of November 2009 in Izmir Chamber of Commerce.

The decisions that were taken during these meetings are presented below and are followed by the Congress Secretariat in Izmir Chamber of Commerce.

All the decisions below are approved by the Congress Executive Committee.


DECISIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON EDUCATION, CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL COOPERATION

1. The Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and the representatives of the business world will send the names of the universities in their countries that are willing to cooperate to the Congress Secretariat. The participant institutions will act as mediators for this cooperation. Izmir University of Economics will send a letter to these universities explaining the areas that they can cooperate. A copy of this letter will be transferred to the mediator institutions. If universities sign a protocol between each others, the participant institutions can help them get financial support from their members for this cooperation. Additionally, participant institutions may support the research projects.

2. All participants agreed on promoting Mediterranean Cuisine. The diversity of each Mediterranean countries' cuisine should be reflected on different events. In accordance with the research that gastronomy departments of the universities will make, the promotion of the Mediterranean cuisine should be discussed in a conference where all the Mediterranean countries will participate. In the framework of this event, as a beginning, studies should be undertaken in the fields of creating a concept that represents the cuisines of the Mediterranean Countries as a whole, spreading the traditional Mediterranean Cuisine culture, determining the list of most popular dishes of every country, providing the accreditation of this list and the restaurant typology. All of these studies can serve as the subthemes of the event that wıll be organized about the Mediterranean cuisine.

3. Concerning the increasing of the effectiveness and the popularity of the Mediterranean Games, the participants will work on increasing awareness of their governments, sports clubs and their communities about the Mediterranean Games and support promoting the Games. The activities that would encourage and promote the sport events should be undertaken.

4. A complete cooperation among Mediterranean Countries should be created in case of a natural disaster in the Mediterranean. Especially, the participant institutions should lobby their governments to finance the latest technology equipments. Conferences and seminars should be organized in the leadership of the participant institutions in order to inform the public about the precautions and disaster intervention.

5. The participant institutions should do their best to provide the best conditions of health, education and culture for the "Happy Children of the Mediterranean Project". First of all, for happy children and youth, the biggest problem of our age; unemployment should be solved. To this end, projects should be developed and the support of governments should be requested. A "Happy Children Project" in which children from Mediterranean countries will get together for cultural exchange can be created and the April 23th Festival of Children that is celebrated every year in Turkey can be used as a model. The participant institutions should encourage this project. The Congress Secretariat will request from the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation to include Happy Children of Mediterranean Project in the April 23th International Festival of Children Event that will take place in Izmir in 2010. The participant institutions will support the participation of children from their countries to this event.

6. The participant institutions should organize meetings and inform their members about the depollution of the Mediterranean, protection of the nature and awareness creation  about nature.

DECISIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON TOURISM AND LOGISTICS

1. The Congress Secretariat will start working on building relations between UNWTO and the Congress for developing cooperation.

2. For the inclusion of Eastern Mediterranean ports and cities to the cruises and yacht tourism market, the participant institutions will start an initiative in their countries about encouraging the marina and port investments and completion of the marina chain.

3. The participant institutions will jointly work on creating a common policy on yachting, implementing common regulations on Mediterranean Ports and Marinas.

4. The participant institutions will develop cultural and sports events that will highlight the Mediterranean Region among other regions. Examples include: yachting competitions, water sports, Medvision, Medcup, Mediterranean Games.

5. To develop health tourism in the Mediterranean cities, a collaborative event will be organized and the participation of experts to this event will be ensured.

6. A cooking contest called "Medfood" will be organized by the participation of chefs. The slogan of the contest will  be "Medfood is the best food".

7. It will be possible for the representatives from the local and central governments participate in the next meeting, also and the institutions that work on tourism and transportation from the participant countries can be invited.

8. The preparatory work on joint participation of the congress members to the main tourism fairs will be started.

9. The results and decisions of this meeting will be presented by the participants to the related institutions in their countries.

10. The participant institutions will take initiative to persuade their governments for abolishing the visas for the short term touristic visits especially for the cruise and yacht tourism.

DECISIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON TRADE AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION

1. A matchmaking portal for Mediterranean port cities will be created through the model of World Trade Partners Project of Izmir Chamber of Commerce. There will not be a limitation for the companies in the member cities to take place in this portal. The Congress Secretariat will prepare a presentation about this portal and send it to the participants.

2. For the financement of trade between Mediterranean countries, a project for establishing a specialized bank which will have branches in every Mediterranean country will be initiated. A committee of experts will be created in order to discuss and develop the necessary enactment to establish this bank. This committee will undertake its work including the research in the field of insurance.

3. The congress will serve as a platform for members of the congress to provide information on the problems they face regarding foreign trade and investment. The participant members will inform the Congress Secretariat about the problems that they have in this field so that common solutions for these problems can be found.

4. A study (either online or will be printed) will be undertaken to bring together the investment agencies and the foreign capital market boards of the Mediterranean countries.

5. The chambers of commerce in the member cities will work for easing the legal and bureaucratic barriers in their countries concerning visa applications and they will provide guidance to investors and exporters.

6. The chambers of commerce in the member cities will create a common agenda for  developing cooperation and abolishment of bureaucratic barriers. This agenda will be prepared in a way that it will cover all the problems and the congress will follow this agenda's articles.

7. Although the free trade agreements are signed between countries, the member cities will contribute these agreements through lobbying their governments for completion of the free trade agreements.

8. The participant countries will work for institutionalization of the Mediterranean Port Cities Fair or Mediterranean Port Cities EXPO. Another option is to determine among the existing fairs in the Mediterranean Port cities. This item will stay on the agenda as the Congress Secretariat will make a research on the issue. The member cities will send the names and features of the fairs in their countries that they recommend for evaluation to the Secretariat. A pilot group can be established among these fairs or a micro level thematic fair could be organized for a successful outcome.  

DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The Executive Committee unanimously approved the decisions that are taken by the Working Groups.

Other decisions of the Executive Committee are state below: 

1. The Congress Secretariat proposed the first half of October 2010 for the 2nd International Congress on Mediterranean Trade and Port Cities. The proposed date October 7-8, 2010 is approved by the members of the Executive Committee.

2. The Congress Secretariat will work on the "Mediterranean Cuisine, Tourism, Trade and Mediterranean Culture" as the theme of the 2nd International Congress on Mediterranean Trade and Port Cities that will be organized in 2010.  The theme will be finalized and put into effect after the Secretariat presents it to all the participant members.

3. The cities that did not participate the first congress will be determined and these cities and their institutions will be invited to the second congress.

4. The Congress Secretariat will get the support of Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) in Turkey to increase the participation in the second congress. The countries from the Black Sea will be invited as observers to the second congress.