MedCruise General Assembly No. 29 in Naples 22/10/2006 Laurent Monsaingeon presided over MedCruise’s 29thGeneral Assembly, which took place on October 18th at the Seatrade Med Cruise and Ferry Convention. Monsaingeon thanked and congratulated MedCruise member, the Port of Naples, for hosting the Seatrade Med event and summarised the association’s progress over the last months, stressing the importance of its promotion efforts, its work on the local economic benefit study, its establishment of the first professional development seminar, and its involvement and collaboration with other associations and government officials. The General Assembly voted in two new members to the association: the Port of Batumi, in Georgia and the Port of Castellón, in Spain. Chairman Saba Kiknadze of the Department of Tourism and Resorts of Georgia presented on the port of Batumi, located on the Black Sea, and the attractions to visit in Georgia from this destination. Castellón Port President Juan José Monzonis and Commercial Manager Susana Soria presented the Spanish port of Castellón with a presentation of the port, the destination and its new facilities aimed to attract cruise ships. The addition of the two members brings MedCruise membership to 49, representing 68 ports and 20 countries. The General Assembly also voted in the association’s first three associate members. They included MH Bland, Gibraltar port agent, represented by George Gaggero; Mykonos S.C.a r.l., a consortium of Italian port agents, represented by Luca Massa; and Bassani, a Venetian port agent, represented by Alessandro Olivetti. The General Assembly also voted to amend the MedCruise constitution to allow other industry associations to join in as associate members. MedCruise directors presented their work on their respective assignments, including Albert Poggio, svp, who discussed his press and promotion activities; Valeria Mangiarotti, vp, on European Union policies; Giovanni Spadoni, on his various presentations on security directives; and Lotfi El Ajmi, on the ports’ statistics. In preparation for the Association’s work in 2007, Antonio Crespo presented on the various promotional events scheduled, José Maria Carrasco on Ceuta’s work in preparing MedCruise’s first professional development seminar and David Stupelman on his promotional efforts in the Black Sea, including the MedCruise May 2007 General Assembly to be hosted by Sochi.