Antonella Vassallo, Managing Director, IOI, was invited to contribute to a high-level 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 on fisheries and aquaculture, hosted in Vilnius, Lithuania, by the 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝗵𝘂𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮 in collaboration with Eurofish International Organisation, FAOGLOBEFISH, and the International Ocean Institute.
The seminar brought together international experts and national stakeholders to exchange insights on trade, sustainability, innovation, and policy trends affecting the seafood sector in Europe and beyond; the speakers reaffirmed the value of sharing knowledge and joining efforts globally to build more resilient, transparent, and sustainable seafood systems.
Opening remarks were delivered by representatives from the Ministry and by Eurofish Director, Marco Frederiksen. The programme featured a series of expert presentations, including by Toni Bartulin (Eurofish) on European trade and market developments; Shirlene Maria Anthonysamy (FAO-GLOBEFISH) on driving sustainability across seafood supply chains; Eva Kovacs (Eurofish) on the energy transition in fisheries and aquaculture; and Ixai Salvo Borda (Eurofish) on responsible production and consumption through sustainability indicators framework and the experience of EU funded VeriFish project. Further contributions came from Søren Espersen Schrøder (Eurofish) on the digitalisation of seafood outlets with case studies from Denmark and Spain; Francesca Barazzetta (Eurofish) presented recent Eurobarometer and EUMOFA data on EU consumption trends. Antonella Vassallo delivered a presentation titled Policy Coherence and Sustainable Ocean Use: Bridging Science, Governance, and International Trade, linking science, governance, and trade in aquaculture and fisheries for sustainable ocean use; emphasising the essential link between effective evidence based policy making in the sector and the need for inclusive and holistic capacity building in ocean governance.