Opening Statement: Mr Gunther Hilliges, head of Bremen State Office for Development Co-operation

"The marine environment - including the oceans and all seas and adjacent coastal areas - forms an integrated whole that is an essential component of the global life-support system and a positive asset that presents opportunities for sustainable development" - thus begins Chapter 17 of Agenda 21.

The obligation of the coastal nations to undertake the integrated management and sustainable development of the coastal and marine areas under their jurisdiction is identified as the foremost goal. Further on it is stated that cooperation with the developing countries as well as - in certain cases - with regional and sub-regional authorities is to be strengthened so that these countries have better opportunities of realising the designated goals.

As a coastal Land of Germany with a historical responsibility towards countries overseas, Bremen is a place for which this chapter of Agenda 21 has special significance. Let me cite a bit of background information to illustrate this circumstance:

Throughout its history of over 1,000 years, Bremen has lived from overseas commerce. In Germany as well as in Europe, Bremen is a major industrial partner, its commercial activities serving as industry's instrument for importing from and exporting to countries overseas. For this reason, it has always been natural for Bremen to regard its overseas partners - its connections to whom were of vital significance - as equal and support them accordingly. Bremen was the first Federal Land of Germany to have undertaken intensive efforts towards establishing structures of development co-operation. For over 28 years, Bremen and its partners in the so-called developing countries - particularly in eastern Asia, southern Africa and the Caribbean region - have collaborated to carry out projects concerned with the protection of the coastal zones and marine waters, the struggle against poverty, the strengthening of self-help groups, democracy development and vocational training. Further focuses of these efforts have been on further training and qualification in the partner regions, information and education work, the formation of decentralised structures and networking in the development process. Bremen has maintained a State Office for Development Co-operation since 1979.

Several months prior to the world summit in Johannesburg, the question arose as to how successful the Rio follow-up process had been. With regard to the protection of the marine environment, Bremen looks back upon many years of successful international cooperation.

In view of already existing structures in the areas of research, the economy, administration, vocational training and further training, the Federal German Minister for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Land of Bremen have agreed that the development policy efforts in the area of marine-environmental protection, including the fishing industry, are to have their primary focal point in Bremen. In this connection, the Bremen Land office of the Carl Duisburg Gesellschaft was commissioned with the realisation of a further training programme.

The Integrated Coastal Zone Management approach plays a major role in Bremen's activities concerning the protection of the marine environment.

The integrated approach for the management of targeted coastal zones recommends the scientific evaluation of tourism, port development, transport, fisheries and industrial activities. It does not focus specifically on the conservation of maritime resources, but rather on their sustainable management. Based on the assumption that decentralisation ensures the participation of local communities and strengthens their decision-making and execution capacities, one goal of the activities is communal co-operation between Bremen and overseas project partners, another the co-operation between overseas project partners themselves.

Bremen's experience in the field of port planning, construction and operation as well as in hinterland logistics - all with a special emphasis on environmental compatibility - can provide many a good example for overseas municipalities undergoing processes of development and transformation. Its fishing port having formerly been the most significant upon the European continent, Bremen is still an important instrument of the fishing industry, serving as a home to leading firms for the import and marketing of fish and an important centre for seafood processing and research in Bremerhaven. Thus Bremen has at its disposal the knowledge and competence necessary to play a role as a partner on issues regarding the integration of the fishing industry into the sustainable development of the coastal zones.

Bremen's activities in the area of Integrated Coastal Zone Management make an important contribution to its efforts to upgrade its quality as an industrial location. Small and medium-size enterprises - in the partner regions as well as in Bremen - are boosted in this context, for they act as agents in the transfer of development and planning and the organisation of socio-economic activities. This leads in turn to the establishment of contacts between Bremen and overseas business partners, e.g. in the fields of transport and industry.

Bremen-based research in the marine sciences is also strengthened by these co-operative relationships, as the latter bring about the steady exchange of data, scientists and environmental-management-related knowledge. This facilitates comparative research on the impact of different economic activities on coastal environments in different climatic zones.

The rise in population and the resulting rise of economic activity will also further increase the already evident overexploitation of the coastal resources unless appropriate action is taken by governments and coastal users. The only approach which can be successful in terms of sustainable development is one which integrates the areas of science, politics and administration, industry and business and their respective interests.

It is in this tenor that I would like to wish this conference much lively exchange and great success.