The Technical Seminars and 1st International Shipping Meet will feature a broad range of activities at the Bilbao International Exhibition Centre during SINAVAL, the international fair of the shipping, maritime and ports industry, and EUROFISHING, the international fair of the fishing industry, which will be staged there on 22nd -- 25th January.
In terms of business participants, the prospects for SINAVAL-EUROFISHING 2003 are good. With more than seven months to go before their opening, 70% of the envisaged exhibition space for both fairs has already been booked, with 116 Spanish companies and several groups of foreign companies from Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Faro Islands and elsewhere already committed to attend this, the sector's first major event of the year.
The 1st International Shipping Meet, scheduled for 23rd-24th January, will feature companies from Norway, Germany, The Netherlands, the UK, France and Portugal. The event will involve meetings intended to strengthen competitiveness in the shipping industry through co-operation between businesses and technology transfer to and from the companies taking part in SINAVAL-EUROFISHING 2003.
The programme of technical seminars will start with a list of topics very much in the news for the shipbuilding industry, including "Research, Development & Innovation for the Shipbuilding Industry", with the presentation of the technology plan for the industry and relevant technology centres, and "Training Requirements in Shipbuilding", which will concentrate on safety and quality aspects.
The seminars will also look at gas carrying and the construction of gas carriers. Within the seminar there will be a section on fishing, the main topics of which will be freezer tuna boats and the privatisation of fishing ports.
Three exhibitions
SINAVAL -- EUROFISHING 2003 will also host three exhibitions. First, the "Sea Learning Centre" will be showing its construction project for the training vessel Gure Izar, which is to be used for humanitarian and social purposes, e.g. allow disabled people to experience the sea.
Secondly, there will be an exhibition of photographs under the title "Painting with Light: North Sea Fishermen of the Late 19th Century", comprising a total of 35 black and white photos taken by Harry and Ford Jenkins between 1880 and 1940.
Finally, AECIPE (Spanish Association of Fishing Cities) will be presenting an exhibition which shows the differences and similarities between the country's three fishing areas: the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic.
As in previous editions, these two fairs will provide the occasion for various trade associations to hold events of their own. FECIPE (European Federation of Fishing Cities) and INTERATUN have confirmed that they will be holding their respective assemblies at the Bilbao International Exhibition Centre.
