The Harbour Authority of Genoa has been awarded of the ESPO Award on Societal Integration



, the prize conferred from the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) with the objective to promote innovative projects by the European Harbour Authorities and thesis to integration of the ports in tissue social, in particular in the cities and the communities in which they are placed. This year the prize, that it has reached the fourth edition, had for topic the youth.

The prize is delivered last night in the Town hall of Brussels from the vice president of the EU commission, Siim Kallas, to the president and the general secretary of the Harbour Authority of Genoa, Luigi Merlo and Giambattista D' Aste, to the presence of the new president of ESPO, Santiago Garcia-Milà.

The acknowledgment is assigned for the project "City of the Port - To know and to live the port of Genoa" that the more convincing proposal with reference to the involvement of the young people is considered by the jury. In particular, the jury favorably is hit by the total nature of the project and by the number of innovative and highly interactive elements that take part some and that they encourage the young people to be interested to the activities of the port in a way much creative. The project "City of the Port", that it is in net with the www.cittadinidelporto.it website, is an initiative realized in the within of Genoa Port Center (GPC), the didactic-exhibition structure in order to introduce to the public the port and its activities, and supported from the Harbour Authority of Genoa, from the Province of Genoa, the Harbour office of Genoa, Carige Foundation in collaboration with the Muvita Foundation.

"We are a lot honored - the general secretary of the Harbour Authority of Genoa has declared, Giambattista D' Aste - of this European acknowledgment in confronts of our job and we would be very pleased to invite the Harbour Authorities our colleagues to Genoa in order to share the experiences". The invitation is turned gives in response Of Auctions to the proposal turned to the winner of the prize from the president of the jury, John Richardson, to organize with the ESPO support a workshop of a day in order to introduce its project, to explain because it has been a success and to illustrate of the results.

In its Richardson participation the association of the European Harbour Authorities has moreover invited to assume some initiative turned to the art produced from the children: "in the arc of last the four years - it has explained - we have noticed how much often the scholars have realized painted or designs after to have visited the port and as the ports often have chosen the best ones between these in order to prepare an exhibition or in order to produce a pamphlet. We would want to encourage ESPO to estimate if something analogous can be made European level".

The ESPO Award is won in the first edition from the Spanish port of Gijón and in next editions from the ports of Helsinki and Stockholm. The topic of edition 2013 of the prize is "Heritage" and is focused on the use and the spreading of the cultural and economic patrimony of the port.