Eight Med. institutions trace St Paul's missionary path

Medmission, a trans-national project partly funded by the Structural Funds programme for Malta 2004-2006 - Interreg IIIB Archimed, was presented to the media by the Maltese partner Fondazzjoni Temi Zammit and the Tourism Ministry.

The project aims at exploiting the common cultural heritage of Mediterranean cities through the creation of a sustainable cultural network following the Apostle Paul's missionary path for the expansion of Christianity.

The project, between eight institutions from Malta, Italy, Greece and Cyprus, will take advantage of ICT technologies and exploit synergies with local key economic sectors in the Mediterranean basin.

A total of €900,000 have been dedicated to the project of which Malta's share is €40,000. But while the other countries have to fork out 50 per cent of the costs, Malta's contribution will be 25 per cent and this could be in kind. The project continues until the end of 2007.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said the project emphasised the value of cooperation between member states and the theme The Missionary Path Of St Paul In The Mediterranean was a common link.

Such programmes led to cooperation in the sectors of culture, traditions and folklore and for internal tourism between member states to grow.

The project in fact is aimed at creating a product of cultural tourism, FTZ project manager John Anastasi said.

He said this will consist in a number of initiatives, including the creation of an e-learning platform in Maltese, Greek, English and Italian, the creation of a cultural website, and the creation of a cultural tourism product and a brand including visits to the cities of the network.

Mr Anastasi said that a festival, From The Conversion To The Shipwreck, will be held as part of the programme between January 25 and February 10.

The festival will include a public reading of the acts in a bonfire setting, the publication of a monograph reproducing works of the Malta Shipwreck in art by international artists, a concert, an exhibition of works of art on St Paul with emphasis on the shipwreck and the inauguration of the marble statue of St Paul, which has been recently restored, at the Wignacourt Museum, in Rabat.

The FTZ is conducting the project in collaboration with the ministry, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, the Mediterranean Institute, the Wignacourt Museum and the Rabat and St Paul's Bay councils.