A ban on all Turkish flagged yachts, sailboats and ferries traveling to Greece from Turkey was lifted on Thursday, after Greek Shipping Minister Panagiotis Kouroublis met with Turkish Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan in Athens.
The two men met at the Greek shipping ministry on Turkey’s request and reports claim they expressed their commitment to work together towards the development of maritime transport, trade and tourism between Greece and Turkey within the framework of international conventions and existing legislation. The meeting followed three joint working groups held in September, focusing on issues of maritime safety and ship inspection.
Kouroublis underlined Greece’s legal commitment “to implementing the EU and international acquis in all areas related to the operation of passenger and tourist vessels operating in the country, confirming the implementation by the Greek side of the State Port Port State Control procedures under the Paris MoU in accordance with the relevant EU legislation”.
On his part, Arslan pointed to the close cooperation between Greece and Turkey in the field of maritime transport and the possibility of further developing economic and trade relations between the two countries, with emphasis on sea tourism between the Greek islands and the Turkish coast.
Turkey’s ban went into effect on September 25 for commercial yachts and on October 2 for passenger ships following port control inspections imposed by Greece.
