Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/534048
Events 46 maltatoday, Sunday, 28 June 2015 Eat Fresh Fish Fair in Mgarr, Gozo Fundacion Mapfre launches new website to showcase its social initiatives around the world which improve the lives of over 100,000 people The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture received mem- bers of the public at a fish fair in Mgarr, Gozo yesterday between 6 and 10pm. The Eat Fresh Fish Fair is part of a campaign aimed at promoting the benefits of eat- ing fresh fish as part of a healthy diet. The Fish Fair included several activities such as information sessions on underutilised fish species including chub mack- erel (kavall), saddled seabream (kaħli), gilthead seabream (awrat), European seabass (sp- nott) and European hake (mer- luzz), culinary lessons on the species mentioned above, in- cluding also a step-by-step guide on how to cook easy and tasty recipes at home, a kids area and free tasting sessions of the speci- fied fish above. The Eat Fresh Fish campaign is an EU co-funded project led by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and supported by relevant stakeholders and project partners such as Għaqda Koperattiva tas-Sajd, the Malta Chef Society, St. Peter Founda- tion, the Fishing Trawlers As- sociation, fish4tomorrow, the Federation of Maltese Aquacul- ture Producers and Kooperattiva Nazzjonali tas-Sajd. The cam- paign is co-financed at 75% EU Funds and 25% National Funds. Fresh fish is one of the healthi- est foods suitable for all ages, and therefore it is an important part of everyone's diet. Fresh fish is the major source of omega-3 fats, high in good quality protein and low in saturated fat. It is also rich in nutrients such as Vitamin D and selenium. Fundación Mapfre has launched the website w w w.formando- c omu n i d ad . f u nd ac i o n m a p f r e . org in order to increase social awareness of its ambitious so- cial international projects. The Formando Comunidad (Shaping the Communit y) Project, has led over 107 cooperation pro- grammes in 23 countries, with the aim of improving education, nutrition, health and labour market access amongst 105,000 children and young people who are experiencing povert y and social exclusion. The new website is also de- signed to promote closer rela- tionships bet ween the entities, volunteers and beneficiaries of the programs, as well as provid- ing updated information regard- ing each one of these projects, a photo galler y of the most rele- vant activities and direct access to the social profiles of each one of the programs. In Malta, Fundacion Mapfre, through Mapfre Middlesea p.l.c. is supporting the Headstart Project, by the Equal Partners Foundation which aims to help and improve the qualit y of life of children under seven years who have a disabilit y or grow th problem during their early years of life. Some other projects include the "Comunidad MAPFRE- Universidad Panamericana", a social center that was recently opened by Fundación Mapfre in Mexico, which over the course of this year will help 5,000 in- dividuals with low income from Santa Fe, an area with a high rate of social exclusion, where it will provide food, education, healthcare, legal support and psychological counseling. The new website focuses par- ticularly on childhood and education, t wo of Fundación Mapfre's core concerns. In this regard, it will provide educa- tional content with the main purpose of contributing to the prevention of school failure and dropouts. The material, which can be downloaded quickly and free of charge, is mainly aimed at teachers, students and families, and is prepared by Fundación Mapfre and the Organization of Ibero-American States for Edu- cational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (OEI). The new site will also act as a platform for broadcasting teaching activities, such as the 3rd edition of the International Short Stor y Contest "El Futuro en Nuestras Manos" (The future in our hands) , which promotes reading and creativit y among the youth of Latin America; and others such as the First Call for Projects "Formando Comuni- dad " to encourage the social organizations of Latin America, United States, Philippines, Tur- key, Malta and Portugal (coun- tries where Fundación Mapfre performs its activit y) to submit charit y projects. The rules will be published in September. The three initiatives that re- ceive the most votes from the general public will go on to a semi-final, in which a panel of experts will choose the winning project, which will then be car- ried out with the financial sup- port of Fundación Mapfre (up to €30,000). Mizzi pushes for abolition of roaming charges, safeguarding of net neutrality Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi has been a major player in the latest negotiations on the EU "telecoms package" as part of the negotiat- ing team responsible for end-us- ers' rights. A number of MEPs from the European Parliament, including Mizzi, are directly involved in negotiations with the presidency with regard to the so-called Tel- ecom Single Market Drama, try- ing to convince member states to ban roaming charges and include proper safeguards for an open internet. Mizzi is the IMCO S&D spokes- person and a shadow rapporteur on this extremely important file for the Maltese consumers that deals with roaming charges and the important principle of net neutrality, which will not only protect consumers by providing them with non-discriminatory and equal access to internet but it will also help innovative start- ups to develop on the market. "I don't agree with the Council proposal to maintain roaming charges for a few more years dur- ing which our citizens will con- tinue paying excessive bills when- ever they travel. A lot of time has been invested on the abolition of the roaming charges in Europe and my role as the S&D shadow rapporteur for the Internal Mar- ket and Consumer Protection Committee is to ensure that con- sumers' rights are properly taken into account, which currently is not the case," added Mizzi. "For me is absolutely vital that consumers are equipped with the relevant tools to ensure their rights are indeed properly safe- guarded. During the negotia- tions, which admittedly have, so far, been challenging, my ulti- mate goal is to ensure that con- sumers have sufficient informa- tion and transparency together with the necessary remedies to protect their rights. If the con- sumers are guaranteed certain services, remedies must be in place for their protection." Mizzi said that another prior- ity for her is to ensure that con- sumers continue to receive SMSs and calls even after reaching the financial limit. They must have the tools to control their consumption, in order for them to avoid having to pay shocking bills at the end of the month. Maltese consumers deserve to roam and pay exactly the same for their calls wherever they are in the EU. The fourth negotiation meeting is expected to be held on Monday 29 June and she hopes that the Council will come to its senses and see the benefits for our citi- zens. Malta Stock Exchange Central Securities Depository forms part of first wave in Europe to settle under T2S The Malta Stock Exchange's Cen- tral Securities Depository joined the rest of the first group of depos- itories to be connected through the TARGET2-Securities (T2S) platform. The T2S platform will enable integrated securities settlement across Europe and went live as planned yesterday. The four secu- rities depositories and their users that form part of the first migra- tion wave and are now connected to T2S are the depository of the Malta Stock Exchange, the Bank of Greece's depository for govern- ment bonds (BOGS), Romania's Depozitarul Central and SIX-SIS of Switzerland. This first group of markets mi- grated smoothly to T2S over the weekend, beginning the rollout of T2S. Italy will be next on 31 Au- gust 2015. Three more groups of markets will follow in stages, and the full complement, covering a total of 21 European countries, will have migrated by February 2017. TARGET2-Securities is the Eu- rosystem's landmark platform for securities settlement, and will be fully deployed across 21 European countries by February 2017, cov- ering almost 100% of securities transactions in euro. T2S is a tan- gible step forward for financial in- tegration in Europe and will sup- port the creation of a true single capital market in Europe. The smooth migration to the new settlement platform was pos- sible through the endeavours of the MSE staff and the significant support from the Central Bank of Malta, our intermediaries, Per- cival software, the MFSA, and the T2S program board. Crossing over to Gozo by luzzu for the Fish Fair MEP Marlene Mizzi