NEWS: Kotor Hosts Third ASAP Focus Group to Strengthen Coastal Risk Management and Stakeholder Engagement
25 June 2025 – Kotor, Montenegro
The coastal town of Kotor welcomed today a key regional workshop focused on strengthening maritime environmental governance in the Adriatic region. The workshop was organized within the framework of two complementary initiatives:
- TRUE BLUE – CEI support to Training and Research to Unlock and Enhance the potential of a sustainable BLUE Economy for regional cooperation and EU integration, financed by the Central European Initiative – Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES) through its Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP) with the support of the Italian Government
- ASAP – Adriatic Sensitive Areas Protection – Mechanism, co-funded by the European Union under the Interreg IPA Adrion Programme
Hosted at the historic Hotel Cattaro, the event gathered policymakers, researchers, and local actors to promote regional collaboration, sustainable maritime development, and oil spill preparedness. Institutional representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro – more specifically Vana Đurašević, the Deputy CEI National Coordinator, and H.E. Ambassador Andreina Marsella of the Italian Embassy in Podgorica opened the workshop, reaffirming their commitment to cross-border cooperation and environmental protection.
The morning session, under the TRUE BLUE framework, featured a roundtable on maritime activities and environmental protection. Speakers included representatives from the University of Montenegro, CEI-ES, University of Ljubljana, and the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split.
The afternoon session focused on the third national ASAP focus group, following earlier editions in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Organized by the University of Ljubljana – Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transport (ULFPP – PP3) and the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS – PP2), and supported by local partners OUR ACTION (NGO Our Action – PP9) and the Montenegrin Administration for Maritime Safety and Port Management (AP7), the session engaged stakeholders in assessing coastal sensitivity to oil spills and identifying available response resources.
Participants contributed anonymously through a guided questionnaire, designed to support risk assessment and decision-making by mapping out intervention priorities and high-value environmental zones. These insights will be essential in shaping the ASAP mechanism for improved coordination and faster emergency response in the event of marine pollution.
The workshop reaffirmed the importance of local engagement, data collection, and regional cooperation in building resilience against environmental risks in the Adriatic Sea.
