Prime Minister António Costa of Portugal and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece visited EMSA in Lisbon today, hosted by the Agency’s Executive Director, Maja Markovčić Kostelac.

During their visit, the two Prime Ministers received an overview of EMSA’s activities, including the Agency’s contribution to the European green agenda for maritime transport, its support to the EU’s maritime economy, and the advanced monitoring and surveillance systems developed to assist Member States and maritime bodies.

They toured EMSA’s Maritime Support Services operational centre, which receives approximately 30 million messages each day from ships in EU coastal waters, and carries out round-the-clock surveillance to assist Member States to detect and respond to marine accidents and possible oil spills.

The Executive Director also briefed the two Prime Ministers on EMSA’s fleet of pollution response vessels, which are based in ports around the EU, including in Piraeus (Greece) and Sines (Portugal).