Three days of intense activity in the exhibition area, the business meeting area and international seminars have confirmed SINAVAL Elite 2011 as a high-performance business forum closely connected to the needs of the maritime industry. In all 2501 specialists – 10% of them from 27 foreign countries– took part in the new-format event, including top-level representatives of the port, fishing, shipbuilding and marine energy sectors.

Among the personalities who attended the Bilbao Exhibuition Centre on April 12-14 were Victoria Barros Neto, Angola’s Secretary of State for Fisheries, who was accompanied by Juan Pablo Rodríguez-Sahagún, Manager of the Association of Freezer Tuna Boats of Bermeo (ANABAC).

Other authorities such as Etienne Schouppe, Belgian Secretary of State for Mobility, Franz Lamlmair, European Commission Director General for Maritime and Fishing Affairs, Juan Ignacio Gandarias, Director general for Fisheries Organisation of the General Secretariat for the Sea, Teresa Molina, Assistant Subdirector General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Ramón de la Fuente, Chair of the Bilbao Port Authority, Fernando González Laxe, Chair of the Public Body for State Ports, José Angel Corres, Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Bilbao and Álvaro Sánchez, Head of Institutional Relations and Technological Innovation at the same organisation also visited the Exhibition Centre to take part in some of the many activities arranged for SINAVAL Elite 2011.

Shipowners, heads of purchasing from shipyards and ancillary companies and representatives of firms seeking marketing or technology transfer agreements also joined in the business brokerage event, which featured an extremely high standard of participants. Stand-out participants included a delegation from Brazil headed by Ronney Cesar Campos Peixoto, Secretary for Planning of the Amazon, who attended the seminar on business opportunities in offshore oil and gas, where Brazil was the guest country.

The congresses staged at the event included the 4th Semionar on marine Energy, organised by EVE and TECNALIA, the second FUTUREPORT Forum, the 5th Short Sea Conference, organised by Belgian publishing-house De Lloyd NV and the Bilbao Port Authority, and seminars aimed at the fishing industry. Other stand-out activities included the Meeting of Commercial Attachés of the Basque Maritime Forum, which featured representatives from Norway, the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands, and meetings of the Association of Heads of Purchasing of Spanish Shipyards and the Spanish Maritime Cluster.

Finally, 231 firms from 26 countries took part in the exhibition area of SINAVAL ELITE 2011, which this year took place in the Luxua Hall of the congress centre itself.

Dept. of Communication, April 2011