INVITATION and CALL FOR PAPERS     The Marinas Committee of the International Council of Marine Industry Associations will hold its 36th  meeting in Rize, Turkey, September 8- 11, 2006. The city of Rize is located on the Black Sea in the northeast corner of the country, only 200 km from the Russian frontier. The purpose of this meeting is to explore opportunities for the advancement of nautical tourism around the Black Sea, particularly as they relate to the development and improvement of marinas for the benefit of cruising yachts. ICOMIA’s Marinas Committee, including the Turkish Chamber of Shipping, the Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association (TURMEPA), and the Turkish Marina Investors and Operators Association along with representatives of national and regional marina associations in more than 30 countries around the world, enjoys a universal vantage point in appraising what it takes to make marinas the successful centerpiece of nautical tourism.

Building on that strength, the Committee has as one of its primary missions outreach and education for marina interests in developing recreational boating market countries, furnishing information to help them grow and prosper.

In Rize, the Committee is looking for input from industry and governments of the several countries bordering the Black Sea (Bulgaria, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia and Turkey) to help evaluate the  potential of the region for marine recreation and tourism.

Papers providing information including but not limited to one or more of the following
are invited:

Contest for Best Papers

Parties interested in presenting a paper relevant to the Future of Yachting in the Black Sea are encouraged to submit a summary of their proposed subject by no later than April 30, 2006. Authors of five papers selected for highest relevancy and merit will be guests of honor at the Rize conference; their prize: free invitation to the Rize Conference including travel expenses from their home to and from Rize.
 

Itinerary

IMC #36 participants will assemble in Istanbul on September 8. For early arrivals a sightseeing tour of Istanbul will be arranged. Late arrivals will have a chance to rest overnight. All of us will be lodged in the Istanbul Holiday Inn at a special rate of less than $150 per person per night.
rate.

At 0600, September 9, we have a group flight from Istanbul to Trabzon (1 hr. and 15 minutes). Then we proceed 45 km. by bus to Rize along the Black Sea coast of Turkey, where for two nights we will be lodged, free of charge as guests of the city of Rize and the Turkish Chamber of Shipping , in separate cottages at a mountain resort on the Ayder plateau, approximately 2500 meters above sea level.

Rize is a very scenic location, squeezed between mountains and the sea. The city is highly oriented to the sea; more than 60 percent of the native population is engaged in fishing, boat building, sea transportation and ship management. It offers excellent investment prospects for marina development. More than 70 percent of the world’s hazel nuts are produced along this part of Turkey’s Black Sea coast, and Rize is the only region in the world where tea is produced outside the tropic zone. Other economic opportunities are opening up because of Rize’s location near pipelines being built to transport crude oil from Russia.

On September 10, we will be bused down from the mountains to the town of Rize. Here, from 1100 to 1700 hours, with a break for lunch, we will have the opportunity to meet with local authorities and business leaders and conduct the business of IMC #36.

At 1800 we fly back to Istanbul from Trabzon.
We should be back in the Istanbul Holiday Inn by 1930.

On September 11, from 1000 to 1800 hrs we meet with Turkish federal and municipal government authorities and business leaders, hear papers and actively participate in a discussion of the future of yachting in the multinational Black Sea region. From 2100 to 2400 hrs we will again be the guests of the city of Rize and Turkish Chamber of Shipping at a farewell party at the Atakoy Marina Yacht Club.

 

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