Seychelles delegation at IMO assembly in London |12 December 2023
Minister Derjaques at the IMO Assembly in London, United Kingdom
A Seychelles delegation led by the Minister for Transport, Antony Derjacques, was recently in London, United Kingdom, for the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Assembly.
The 33rd Assembly of the IMO held from November 27 to December 6, 2023 convened in London at the IMO headquarters, with all 175 states present, including Seychelles.
The IMO has extended its multimillion-dollar portfolio of international initiatives for this year's meeting in order to develop a culture of collaboration, creativity, and cooperation. These initiatives target a wide range of concerns, such as biofouling management, marine litter, and decarbonisation. They actively support national action plans, encourage innovation, and are compatible with the IMO's primary goal of ocean protection.
During this year’s event, Seychelles participated in the voting process to elect member States for the Council. The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the organisation.
Between sessions of the Assembly, the Council performs the functions of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention. The election took place on Friday, December 1, using an in-person secret ballot.
The IMO Assembly has elected the following states to be members of the Council for the 2024-2025 biennium:
Category (A) comprises 10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services (listed in alphabetical order): China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Norway, Panama, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Category (B) consists of 10 States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.
Category (C): 20 States not elected under (a) or (b) above, which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world: Bahamas, Bangladesh, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Türkiye.
Several remarks were made during the event by elected countries about the work they have done to promote marine safety in their country as well as what they have done to help other countries. The Seychelles delegation met with delegates from other member states such as the Philippines, Qatar, United Kingdom, the United States of America and Egypt to discuss technical cooperation between the states. Seychelles also submitted two accession documents to the IMO, namely the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships and the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks.
Minister Derjacques was accompanied at the event by the chief executive of the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority, Captain Daniel Adam; the Acting High Commissioner of Seychelles in London, Patsy Moustache and the Policy Analyst responsible for the Maritime and Ports dossier at the Ministry of Transport, NickellaTirant.
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