Women in maritime are a key contributor to the maritime transport sector. This was the message of Helen Buni from IMO's gender programme as she opened the second regional conference for Pacific Women in Maritime held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, (26–28 April). The conference highlighted the significant progress made by the women in maritime association (WIMA) in the Pacific to integrate more women into the industry.
The event reaffirmed the objectives to guide the Pacific region towards gender equity and equality in the maritime industry and supported the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (to empower all women and girls). The conference also agreed to celebrate a Day for Women in Maritime to be marked annually on May 18 with the theme for 2019 being "Recognition, Visibility, Capacity".
The Conference was organised by the Pacific Community (SPC) and IMO, hosted by Papua New Guinea and attended by representatives from Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.