IMO Secretary General to attend Jamaica symposium

(Posted on 26/02/19)

The Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr Kitack Lim, is due to attend a High Level Symposium (HLS) being hosted by the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ) in Kingston this week.
 
Jamaica’s Minister of Transport and Mining, The Hon. Robert Montague, will chair the symposium, which will be attended by Transport Ministers of the Caribbean Region and is themed: Maritime Transportation: Harnessing the Blue Economy for the Sustainable Development of the Caribbean.
 
The objective of the HLS is to update policymakers on the challenges faced by States in the region as they ensure the preservation of the marine environment, on which they are heavily dependent for their socio-economic wellbeing. The intent is to identify strategies to assist States in meeting their obligations under IMO Instruments to which they are party, particularly the marine environment protection and liability and compensation instruments.
 
In addition to addressing the HLS, Secretary General Lim will make courtesy calls on the Hon Robert Montague and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Hon Pearnel Charles Jr.
 
He will also visit the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard at HMJS Cagway Port Royal and will meet with Professor Fritz Pinnock, President of Caribbean Maritime University, for a tour of the new-look campus. Jamaican alumni of the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) and World Maritime University (WMU) will have the opportunity to meet with Mr Lim.
 
IMLI was established in 1988 by IMO for the training of specialists in international maritime law. The institute ensures that sufficient maritime law experts, with appropriate knowledge and skills, are available, particularly for developing countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
 
The WMU is a postgraduate maritime university, founded in 1983 by the IMO, which offers both master’s and doctoral degrees, and carries out the objectives and goals of the IMO and IMO member States around the world, through education, research and capacity building.
 
Since the establishment of these institutions, IMLI and WMU have trained more than 40 graduates from Jamaica and the Caribbean. Most of the Jamaican graduates occupy senior positions in the public and private shipping sector in Jamaica.
 
The HLS will Wednesday February 27, 2019 at the Iberostar Hotel in Rose Hall, Montego Bay. Immediately following will be a regional two-day workshop for Senior Maritime Administrators (SMA), sponsored by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and hosted by the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, on February 28 and March 1, 2019.

The objective of the workshop is to update the knowledge of senior maritime administration officials across the region, on the latest regulatory and other developments in the international maritime sector. The workshop will also provide Caribbean maritime administrators with the latest information on current and future developments at IMO and facilitate the exchange of information between Caribbean administrations. Additionally, the workshop will facilitate the development of a list of technical assistance priorities for the region for the 2020-2021 biennium.
 
Countries that will be represented at the High Level Symposium and the Senior Maritime Administrators meetings are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Dominica, Curacao, Grand Cayman, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
 
The Maritime Authority of Jamaica is the agency responsible for regulation and development of shipping in Jamaica. Jamaica has been a member of the IMO since1976 and has ratified the major conventions governing maritime safety, security and pollution prevention and continues to implement its flag, port and coastal state obligations through an established legal and administrative framework.  
 

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