Malta elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organisation

Last Friday 19 November, 124 IMO Member States elected the 32 States to be members of the Council of the Organisation for the biennium 1999 – 2001.

The Council is the Executive Organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the Organization. The Council is elected from States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services and in international sea borne trade and States with special interests in maritime transport or navigation ensuring the representation of all major geographic areas of the world.

Elections took place during the twenty-first Regular Session of the IMO Assembly which is meeting at the IMO Headquarters in London between the 15 and 26 November. Malta was amongst the 22 countries that contested the elections for the 16 seats under Category C, that is States with special interest in maritime transport or navigation.

The member States of the new Council are Australia, Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

The only other time Malta has been on the IMO Council was during the 1977 – 1979 biennium.

The Minister for Transport and Communications Censu Galea lead Malta's delegation to this twenty-first regular session of the IMO Assembly. The Assembly is the Governing Body of IMO. It consists of all Member States, and it meets once every two years in regular sessions; but may also meet in extraordinary session if necessary. The Assembly is responsible for approving the work programme, voting the budget and determining the financial arrangements of the Organization. The Assembly also elects the Council.

Malta's delegation for this Assembly included high officials from the Malta Maritime Authority particularly from the Merchant Shipping Directorate which is the flag Administration for the 28 million gross tonnage under the Malta flag and from Malta's High Commission in London.

Addressing a plenary session of the Assembly on Thursday 18^th November during the discussion of the maritime training programme Minister Galea highlighted the crucial importance of the development of the human resource for ensuring proper implementation of the international standards which aim towards safer shipping and cleaner oceans. He is also reiterated the Government's support for the IMO training programme which includes the World Maritime University in Malmo Sweden, the IMO Maritime Academy in Trieste and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute in Malta. Minister Galea promised in particular Government's continuing support for IMLI which is hosted by Malta and announced that Government will soon be finalising a twenty five year lease for the land and building housing the Institute.