Alan Deidun, director of the International Ocean Institute Malta Training Centre was invited by the IOI, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong and by the Schenzhen World Health Foundation to attend the ‘Healthy Oceans, Healthy Coasts’ International Leadership Seminar held in Hong Kong.

The major scope of the seminar was to contribute in tangible means to the drafting of a position paper on how best to achieve the ambitious targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14 to be eventually presented at the UN’s The Ocean Conference to be held in New York in June (https://oceanconference.un.org/).

The meeting was opened by IOI managing director Antonella Vassallo.

The SDG’s aim is to promote the implementation of sustainable development in its various facets by providing a series of targets till 2030, with SDG 14 specifically referring to the management of ocean resources.

Prof. Deidun, who is also a resident academic within the Department of Geosciences, participated as a panellist by delivering a presentation on Blue Growth concerns for deep-sea biodiversity and on IOI ocean literacy initiatives.

Following such a high-level seminar, an internal meeting involving IOI governors, IOI Training Centre directors, IOI training course directors and the IOI Secretariat was held with the ultimate goal of streamlining training material offered globally by the IOI.

This year’s five-week regional ocean governance organised by the IOI Malta training centre and accredited by the University of Malta, will be held between November 5 and December 8, with online applications being retrievable from http://oceania.research.um.edu.mt/cms/ioicourse/documents/application%20form.doc .