The mayor of Genoa has reiterated the idea launched in recent months of “creating a school for maritime professions”
“Genoa and its port must coexist and care for each other; one exists thanks to the other and vice versa. Ever better balances must be found in the name of sustainability, but also with the awareness that the port is our blue lung for employment and the economy.” This was stated by the mayor of Genoa, Silvia Salis, speaking at the inaugural event of the seventh edition of the Genoa Shipping Week, organized by Assagenti.
The mayor emphasized that the port “produces more jobs than it can find locally” and is “an important lever for development”, from practical to specialized. To respond to the needs of the sector, Salis reiterated the idea launched in recent months of “creating a school for maritime professions”. The mayor then listed the “great challenges” such as the Simplified Logistics Zone and the use of “digitalization and artificial intelligence to move goods that arrive in the port more quickly”. “Traffic volumes will grow, but goods must be handled in the shortest possible time. Digitalization serves that purpose. A balance between the present and what will come in the future with great flexibility: that is what our port and our city need,” she remarked.
Addressing the many young people present at the Porto Antico congress center, the mayor defined the “Blue Economy” as “the most attractive lever” for young people, for those who must stay and for those who want to invest their future in Genoa. “Genoa must focus more and more on the knowledge economy,” she stated, specifying the goal of transforming the capital from a “university city” to a “city for university students”. “We must provide services for our young people,” concluded Salis. “We are optimistic about the future, but we must enrich the city with services that are useful for young people, with culture and events. Only with a qualified university and job offer can we become truly attractive. We have a very high average age: it is our moral duty to work to lower it, by attracting new young people and retaining our own.”
