Last 5-6-7 of May Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, hosted the professional fair “Salon Atlantico de Logistica y Transporte”, www.salt2010.es, which counted more than 250 business meetings among the participating national and international companies and institutions, including a good number of representatives from the African countries.
The President of Canary Cluster of Transport and Logistics Eduardo Bezares in concert with the Transport Director General of Canary Government Rosa Dávila Mamely, didn’t deny a certain satisfaction for the results of the event, insomuch as the next year edition , which will take place in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is pre-announced as a certain success.
As stressed by them, SALT can be considered a good step ahead for Canary Island to become a logistic platform for the close collaboration with African countries, whose coasts are a little more than 100 kilometers far away.
The debate has been taken up during the 7th edition of the conference “Transnova” for the Technological Innovation in the Transport Sector, which has been held within the fair during its second day.

A common approach and line of thinking resulted from some key speakers, which included Mrs Rosa Davila Mamely, General Director of Transport in Canary Island, Prof. José Antonio Moreno, presidente del Comité Organizador de Transnova and Mr Walter Vassallo,  Secretary General of the Maritime Association for Research and Innovation. All underlined the need for a technological development and innovation in the transport sector and analyzed the business opportunities for SMEs and grants coming from the European Union which can be supportive both for public and private stakeholders which are ready to “innovate”. Mr Vassallo went on during an interview for the Spanish television saying: “the grants from the EU can be a great opportunity for the Canary Islands' community and the EU itself for the joint development with African countries”. Now it is a question to see how the Canary community will react. The appointment for the next year is at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria!