The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has tasked the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) to prevail on the respective governments of member states to establish a national maritime transport strategy which will provide a springboard for the development of maritime clusters in the country, comprising seafaring, ship building, repair, and ship management.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has tasked the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) to prevail on the respective governments of member states to establish a national maritime transport strategy which will provide a springboard for the development of maritime clusters in the country, comprising seafaring, ship building, repair, and ship management.
Secretary General of the IMO, Koji Sekimizu, gave this charge in Lagos on Monday at the opening ceremony of the on-going 35th Council Meeting and the 11th Roundtable Conference of PMOWCA, saying that the national maritime transport strategy will be a follow up to the country maritime profiles developed by IMO to identify the maritime needs of each developing country.
Sekimizu who was represented at the event by the Head of Africa (Anglophone) Section of the IMO, Mr. William Azu stated that, “as part of the new vision of the IMO, the Secretary General is seeking a more efficient IMO, delivering on his core mandate and looking beyond to explore other technical capacity building for a wider shipping industry”.
“In this respect, two key instruments are being developed namely; country maritime profiles as tools targeted to help the real needs of the countries. As a follow up to this country maritime profile, national governments would then develop national maritime transport strategy to direct the efforts and maritime capacity needs of member state”.
In order to develop and enrich these two instruments, he solicited that PMAWCA‘s contributions will be very important in implementing the national maritime transport strategy. ”IMO would therefore look forward to cooperating with PMOWCA and its other regional sister organizations to provide support for the capacity building needs of the region” he said.
Sekimizu also stated that the IMO is collaborating with the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) to ensure the effective implementation of its flagship sub-regional integrated coast guard function and network project. This according to him, is to mobilize coordinated regional synergy to combat maritime piracy and other forms of illegal activities at sea against ships and marine resources.
According to him, the escalated cases of piracy in the gulf of guinea, especially off the coast of Somalia and indeed the reported incidences of piracy and armed robbery against ships within the Gulf of Guinea has posted a lot of challenges to the entire maritime world.
In order to deal with this problem, the Secretary General stated that, “IMO has resulted in the signing of a regional agreement known as the Djibouti Code of Conduct mainly to build capacity and share information aimed at arresting, controlling and prosecuting anti piracy with a view to eliminating the scourge”.
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