IMO prepares to expand its regional presence with a new office in the Pacific

The IMO Technical Cooperation Committee, at its 71st session (TC 71) (20-24 September), has approved the creation of an IMO Regional Presence Office for the Pacific Islands region. If approved at the Council's 34th Extraordinary Session (November 8-12, 2021), the Pacific region will be the sixth to have one of these offices.

Currently, the Organization has four regional presence offices under the IMO Regional Presence Program, in: Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), for West and Central Africa (French-speaking); Accra (Ghana), for West and Central Africa (English-speaking); Nairobi (Kenya), for Eastern and Southern Africa; and in Manila (Philippines), for East Asia. and Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) for the Caribbean. IMO also funds a Technical Cooperation Officer in the Pacific Community (SPC), based in Suva, Fiji. The Committee agreed to continue funding the current position of Technical Cooperation Officer for the Pacific region until the regional presence office is fully established and operational. The final decision on the location of the regional presence office in the Pacific will be made once the potential host countries have submitted their proposals to the IMO Secretary General.

TC 71 also:

• It approved a long-term strategy on technical cooperation entitled "Capacity Building Decade 2021-2030", for adoption by the IMO Assembly as a resolution to the IMO.
• Approved the Integrated Technical Cooperation Program (ITCP) for the biennium 2022-2023, which includes a new global program on reducing emissions from ships and ports to support developing countries, SIDS and LDCs in implementation of the IMO GHG Initial Strategy.
• Approved an allocation from the Technical Cooperation Fund for the implementation of the PICT 2022-2023, subject to the final decisions of the Council and the Assembly.
• Significant progress has been made in developing SMART indicators for data collection for technical cooperation, in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• He received updated information on the partnership agreements and financing of technical cooperation activities.
• It received updated information on technical cooperation activities and programs, including the "Women in the maritime sector" program.
• Supported a proposal to recognize May 18 as Women's Day in the maritime sector
• , proclaimed by IMO, for consideration by the Council.

More details on the results of TC 71 will be published shortly (in the meeting summaries section).