The International Shipping Exhibition “Posidonia 2014” will be officially inaugurated on Monday at 18:00 at the exhibition center Metropolitan, at the International Athens Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos’, in the presence of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Shipping and Aegean Minister Miltidis Varvitsiotis.

“Posidonia 2014”, among the world’s most prestigious shipping exhibitions, will be open on June 2-6.

At least 1,850 exhibitors and some 19,000 visitors from a record 93 countries and territories will attend “Posidonia 2014”, Posidonia Exhibitions S.A. executive director Theodore Vokos said in the press conference, noting that among the most important national pavilions are those of China, Japan and Korea.

He also stressed the importance of Posidonia to the Greek economy, underlining that it brings more than 50 million euros to the national economy.

Varvitsiotis noted that “Posidonia expo coincides with positive news for the country,” noting that “it has returned to the international markets, public finances are going well and we have a surplus, while tourist arrivals are expected to increase”.

Referring to the Greek-flagged ships, he said that “our flag in shipping is a flag of quality and not of opportunity. We have managed to drastically reduce the average age of the Greek ships and through the ministry’s institutional reorganisation, we now provide serious, quick, reliable and globally recognisable services to ships under the Greek flag”.