World Maritime Day 1999 celebrated in Malta

During this week Malta is joining the international maritime community to celebrate World Maritime Day.

The Assembly of the International Maritime Organisation, the United Nations specialised agency on maritime affairs, had instituted this annual event to focus the attention of the worldwide maritime community on IMO activities in the pursuit of its aims of safer shipping and cleaner oceans.

Appropriately the theme chosen for this year is IMO and the New Millennium.

Malta has been a member of IMO since 1966 having acceded in June of that year to the UN convention establishing this Organisation. Malta has acceded to all the major IMO conventions and in line with its responsibilities as an international maritime centre, particularly as one of the five largest shipping registers in the world, is an active participant at IMO.

Malta acknowledges the important role IMO has in ensuring safety of shipping and the protection of the marine environment and pays tribute to this Organisation for its numerous and notable achievements. Malta is proud of its direct association with two very important international Centres run by IMO and located in Malta, the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI). Both institutions have a distinct objective to ensure that maritime administrations have a well-developed and suitably- trained human resource.

Malta celebrates World Maritime Day on the same day as IMO, on Thursday 30 September. On the evening of Wednesday, 29 September 1999, the Minister for Transport and Communications, the Hon Censu Galea, visited the IMO International Maritime Law Institute at tal-Qroqq.* As befits the international aspect of the occasion, the Minister met not only with the Director and senior officials of IMLI, but also with 23 lawyers from 18 different countries, the participants for the current academic year.

On Thursday, 30 September 1999, Minister Galea met with the Director and senior officials of REMPEC. On that same day representatives of the Association of Malta Ship Agents, the Association of Malta Shipowners, the Yacht Traders Association and the Malta Maritime Law Association paid a courtesy visit on the Minister responsible for maritime affairs. Also on Thursday Minister Galea met the Principal of the Nautical School and the Board of Members of the Malta Maritime Authority.

These series of encounters by the Minister responsible for maritime affairs with a wide cross-section of the international and local maritime community is a clear demonstration of the uninterrupted support by successive administrations for the work of IMO. It also shows the importance Government continues to attach to the further development and upgrading of the maritime sector.

On the occasion of this significant event both the Minister and the Malta Maritime Authority sent appropriate messages to IMO.

*Speech delivered by Minister follows.

World Maritime Day - 30th September 1999

Minister Censu Galea meets Students and Staff at IMLI

Prof. Attard, IMLI Students, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to be with you today on the eve of an important celebration, that is the World Maritime Day.

Malta joins the rest of the world particularly the Maritime Community within the International Maritime Organisation in celebrating this day. The theme the IMO has chosen for this year "The IMO and the new Millennium" may seem an obvious one, considering that in about three months' time we shall be celebrating the new Millennium.

However, we must keep in mind that during the past hundred years, particularly in the Maritime sector there have been enormous developments, one could say more than those that happened throughout the whole history of Shipping.

The Maritime community has seen changes and faced new challenges, particularly with the introduction of air transport. Ships may have decreased in size, particularly oil tankers, but they surely increased in speed and are more technologically dependent. Combustion sources have also changed from coal to oil and even to nuclear propulsion.

Both merchant and passenger shipping have made navigational routes more populated and congested, particularly in a small sea such as the Mediterranean.

It is no surprise therefore, that emphasis during these last decades has been on cleaner and safer seas. For Malta, a country surrounded by the sea and in the middle of one of the heavy populated navigational routes, the dangers from maritime incidents are more evident than in bigger countries. It is, therefore, very important to monitor the situation. The Maritime Authority is an important catalyst in this respect.

The maritime sector shall always be important in the world scenario, because even though air transport has taken quite a load in so far as commercial and passenger carrying is concerned, there is a limit to what planes can carry. Therefore, the next Millennium will still be presenting us with great challenges in the Maritme sector.

Ladies and Gentlemen it is however my pleasure today to meet the students of the International Maritime Law Institute for the accademic year 1999-2000 for the first time. This year we have 23 lawyers from 18 countries taking this one-year extensive course. Unfortunately, other important government work prevented me from being with you on the inauguration of the accademic year. Therefore, I gladly accepted the invitation of the Director to meet you on the eve of this important day.

It is our hope that you all make it to your graduation day, knowing full well the sacrifices it entails, especially for those of you who had to leave your country and spend this year in Malta. I am sure that the faculty and the staff will make all their efforts to make you feel at home as much as possible.

When you graduate IMLI would be reaching the 200 mark in the number of graduates that have come out of the Institute since its inception in 1989.

Together with your predecessors, you will be the backbone of an elite community of specialised lawyers in the field of Maritime legislation. As you all know during the past years the IMO has proposed various treaties, conventions, codes and regulations, and during the past decade students from IMLI have worked on various theses that are now fountain of knowledge to those coming after them.

Lately, when I attended the Maritime Convention in London, I could not help noticing the high esteem that the IMO has for students qualifying from IMLI. Many of them are now highly appreciated professionals in their country and they are giving sterling service towards the implementation and support of the numerous IMO codes and regulations. Legislating is one thing, implementing it is another. It is up to you to see that these laws and regulations are implemented in your respective country.

All this is the merit of the Director Prof. Attard, the lecturers, and staff at IMLI whose dedication and expertise is boosted by the support received from my Government and the IMO.

I wish to conclude by wishing the Maritime community through the Secretary General of the IMO more fruitful work for the benefit of mankind.