The Head of the Presidency Cabinet of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) has participated in the conference Motril, Open Port organised by the Association for the collaboration between ports and cities (RETE).
The Head of the Presidency Cabinet of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), Marta Villalonga, has assured that “ports are opportunities, not threats. The port enclosures are engines of growth, spaces for the transmission of knowledge, cultural exchange, wealth and collective well-being. The ports can do things well, but there will always be someone with a different point of view”. Villalonga expressed himself in this way during the conference Motril, Open Port organised this morning by the Association for the collaboration between ports and cities (RETE).
“Dialogue, institutional loyalty and transparency are the basis of this relationship between ports and cities. An example of this are the city-port advisory committees of the ports of Valencia, Sagunto and Gandia, bodies chaired by the mayors of each of these cities, and representatives of other institutions such as the Generalitat, and integrated in the Delegate Commission of the Board of Directors for the Promotion of Territorial Integration with the aim of favouring the resolution of the issues of each municipality and creating a constructive dialogue”.
The head of the PAV Presidency Office participated in a discussion moderated by journalist Mercedes Navarrete of the newspaper Diario Ideal, together with the president of the Port Authority of A Coruña, Martín Fernández, the president of the Port Authority of Almería, Jesús Caicedo, and the councillor for Urban Planning and Infrastructures of the city council of Almería, Ana María Martínez.
During his intervention, he indicated that “the ports and the cities go hand in hand to build together actions and projects in decarbonisation, which is a universal concern and objective, as well as in digitalisation and innovation. We are both catalysts for multiplying opportunities and sources of progress for society”. Villalonga also underlined the importance of “improving communication and that the citizens understand the work and projects developed by the ports”.
The conference Motril, Puerto Abierto was inaugurated by Teófila Martínez Saiz, President of RETE and of the Port Authority of the Bay of Cadiz, José García Fuentes, President of the Port Authority of Motril – Granada and Luisa María García, Mayoress of Motril.
The day was divided into three stages. In the first conference, Francisco José González-Mendez, Director of the Port Authority of Motril, discussed the integration of port activity in the urban environment “Motril Puerto Abierto”. In the second conference, Professor Juana Sánchez from the University of Malaga and Professor Alejandro Grindlay from the University of Granada, dealt with the strategies of port-city connection.