In his address at the 10th High Level Focal Points Meeting of EU on Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), held in Athens, on Friday, March 21, Shipping and Aegean Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis stressed the contribution of shipping and maritime activities to Greece's economy. He added that Greece, a maritime nation by tradition, placed the sea as one of the pillars of its EU Presidency and considers maritime and shipping activities an endless source of economic growth and prosperity for Europe.

The minister focused on maritime tourism and islands policy. He stated that “maritime tourism can become the vehicle for economic growth and employment in Europe over the coming years.” He further put an emphasis on islands policy, which ranks high on the Greek EU Presidency agenda, noting that Greece is a country with thousands of islands and rocky islets and for this "wants to bring island policy to the center of the European environment".