IMO has agreed to boost its regional presence, with the establishment of a regional presence office in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to be hosted in Alexandria, Egypt.
The IMO Technical Cooperation Committee (TC), at its 72nd session (17-20 October), agreed to the establishment to enhance IMO's coordination of technical assistance for the MENA region.
The new office will complement existing regional presence offices: five Regional Coordinators based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire for west and central Africa (Francophone); Accra, Ghana for west and central Africa (Anglophone); Nairobi, Kenya for eastern and southern Africa; Manila, the Philippines for East Asia; and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago for the Caribbean. IMO has also been funding one Technical Cooperation Officer within the Pacific Community (SPC), based in Suva, Fiji, and a new regional presence office for the Pacific Islands will be operational in Fiji next year.
The Committee agreed that the new regional presence office for the MENA region would need to take into full consideration the marine environmental protection mandates of existing regional entities in the Mediterranean (REMPEC), Red Sea (PERSGA) and ROPME (MEMAC) Sea areas.
The Committee noted support from delegations for considering the establishment of a regional presence office in the Latin America region and invited submissions to the next session of the Committee.
Read the full TC 72 summary here.