Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis is travelling to Athens on Thursday for a three-day working visit focused on promoting the Cyprus flag, meeting shipping executives and taking part in events marking World Maritime Day and the 20th anniversary of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC).

The September 17-19 visit will see Hadjimanolis combine meetings with shipping companies with a series of industry and seafarer events, as Cyprus steps up efforts to strengthen its position as an international maritime centre and attract more vessels to its registry. 

Among the main events on her programme is ‘Women, Shipping, Social Contribution’, organised by the Shipping Deputy Ministry as part of activities surrounding World Maritime Day. 

Hadjimanolis will deliver the opening address, while First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides will also attend. 

World Maritime Day falls on September 24 this year, with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) choosing “From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence” as its theme for both 2026 and 2027. 

The theme centres on turning internationally agreed maritime rules into practical action on board ships, in ports and across national maritime administrations. 

While in Athens, Hadjimanolis will also attend the annual general meeting of the Cyprus Union of Shipowners (CUS), where she is due to address members. 

She will later attend the union’s annual dinner, which President Nikos Christodoulides is also expected to attend. 

Seafarers’ working conditions will form another strand of the visit, with Hadjimanolis due to speak at an event organised by Greece’s Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation together with Cyprus’ Federation of Transport, Petroleum and Agricultural Workers. 

The event marks 20 years since the adoption of the MLC, 2006, one of the key international agreements governing the working and living conditions of seafarers. 

The convention was adopted by the International Labour Organisation on February 23, 2006, and entered into force on August 20, 2013. 

It establishes minimum standards covering employment agreements, wages, hours of work and rest, accommodation, food, medical care, health and safety and repatriation. 

Often described as the “seafarers’ bill of rights”, the MLC brought a broad range of maritime labour standards under a single international framework while seeking to ensure more consistent conditions across the global shipping industry. 

Alongside the formal events, Hadjimanolis is expected to hold a series of meetings with shipping company executives, with the deputy ministry seeking to promote both Cyprus as a base for maritime businesses and the Cyprus flag. 

Discussions are expected to centre on the competitiveness of Cyprus shipping, the services available to international maritime companies and efforts to attract further business and registrations to the Cyprus Ship Registry. 

According to the Shipping Deputy Ministry, Cyprus has the 11th largest fleet in the world and the third largest in Europe, while the island is also described as Europe’s largest third-party shipmanagement centre. 

Companies based in Cyprus manage more than 20 per cent of the world’s third-party managed fleet, according to the ministry. 

The Athens trip comes during a busy month of overseas and regional activity for Hadjimanolis. 

Earlier in September, she travelled to Bahrain, where Cyprus signed a maritime cooperation agreement, before hosting the shipping ministers of Greece, Malta and Italy in Limassol for talks on the competitiveness and future of European shipping.