Πρέβεζα, 19/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE
PREVEZA CHAMBER ORGANISED WITH A GREAT SUCCESS THE FINAL CONFERENCE OF FRESH WAYS PROJECT
Preveza Chamber organized with a great success on Thursday 15th of June 2023 in the Hotel Margarona, in Preveza, the Final Conference of the cross-border project: “FRESH WAYS – Crossborder Mechanism for Green Intermodal and Multimodal Transport of Fresh Products”, funded by the Interreg V/A Greece-Italy 2014-20 Programme.
The Final Conference was attended, in person and on-line, by representatives of the project partnership, by many stakeholders, such as the Municipalities of Preveza and Pargas, ETVA VI.PE. S.A., the Hellenic Transport Chamber Business Association, the University of Ioannina, the Federation of Tourist Accommodation Entrepreneurs of Preveza Regional Unit, by members of the Board of Directors of Preveza Chamber, and by local fresh foods producers as well.
The Conference was started with the welcome speech of the President of Preveza Chamber, Mr Ioannis Bouris, who pointed out the important role of the logistics
sector the specific territory, and emphasized the great interest of the Chamber for the creation of agri-food logistic infrastructures in the local area. For this reason, as he mentioned, the Chamber elaborated a specific Business Plan for the creation of an Agri-Food Logistic Center in the Industrial Area of Preveza, in the framework of the FRESH WAYS project.
The floor was then taken by the Coordinator of the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg V-A Greece – Italy 2014-2020 Program, Mr. Gianfranco Gadaleta, who presented the new Interreg V-A Greece – Italy 2021-2027 Program, encouraging the FRESH WAYS project partnership to submit a new proposal as a continuation of the important results of this project.
Next, Mr Mario Pertile, Manager of Special Projects from Puglia Airports, presented the main outcomes and results of FRESH WAYS project aiming to optimize existing passengers’ air routes to ship fresh products, combined with the transport of passengers between Italy and Greece.
Moreover, Mr. Andrea Dituri, Energy Manager of Apulia Airports, presented the multimodal transport infrastructures built at Bari Airport as part of this project.
The keynote speaker of the event, Prof. Dimitrios Vlachos, Director of the Laboratory of Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LASCM) of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), took the floor immediately after, presenting the topic: “New Generation of Agro-logistics Centers”.
Then, the Scientific Expert of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bari, Mr. Fabio Abbrescia, presented the Feasibility Study for the development of multimodal transports in the Greece – Italy cross-border area.
Afterwards, the Professor Emeritus of the Department of Civil Engineering, at University of Patras, Mr. Giorgos Stefanidis, and the scientific expert of the University of Salento, Mr Gianvito Mitrano, presented in details the ICT platform developed in the framework of the FRESH WAYS project aiming at supporting the distribution of fresh agri-food products using combined transport means.
Finally, Mrs Vassilis Siomadis, expert from EURICON Consultants Company presented the Business Plan for the creation of an Agri-Food Logistic Center in the Industrial Area of Preveza located right on the road axis that connects the Aktion Airport with the Port of Igoumenitsa, and in the middle of an area with rich agricultural, fishing and livestock production, giving the possibility for the development of agro-logistic services in the area.
Finally, after the end of the Final Conference, a cross-border gastronomy event was held to promote local fresh agri-food products, with the participation of one (1) Italian chef, Mr. Pasquale Lembo, and one (1) Greek, Mr. Giorgos Palisidis.
