Southern EU members agree on Blockchain cooperation

The seven-member states of the European Union styled as the SouthEU, have agreed on a memorandum of understanding for cooperation and the sharing of best practices in the area of DLTs (distributed ledger technologies).

The MOM agreed at South EU Telecommunications Ministers Summit in Malta, consolidates further the cooperation between the seven states on the digital sector.

“The signing of that declaration is clear evidence of a sense of acknowledgement of this emergent industry. Today’s initiative of an MOU takes us a step further, to establish a framework for the sharing of best practices in the design and application of DLT at a governmental level,” digital services secretary Silvio Schembri said.

“We can proudly claim that today’s event is a historic milestone. It is the first-ever commitment between Southern European Member states to cooperate in a tangible and deliverable manner with each other on any area.”

Malta, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus have now committed themselves to explore the possibility to cooperate on cross-border DLT projects, with an expert group made up by members of every participating country.

Italy’s undersecretary of state for economic development, Mirella Liuzzi said emerging technologies could be catalysts to promote “the specificnesses of Southern Europe and protect our agricultural, commercial and industrial products from frauds and counterfeiting.”

Greek minister for digital governance Grigoris Zarifopolous said the Southern countries in the Mediterranean shared similar characteristics and challenges. “Helping each other is key to moving forward… there other aspects where all countries can cooperate closely together, such as eGovernance, connectivity and cybersecurity.”