Training – Visibility – Recognition is the motto of IMO's programme on Integration of Women in the Maritime Sector (IWMS) which launched the Women in Maritime Association for the Caribbean, a new regional network, during a meeting on “Maritime Women of the Caribbean: Achieving Regionally…Advancing Globally”, held in Montego Bay, Jamaica (13-17 April). The meeting was attended by 45 strategy officials from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
IMO’s Pamela Tansey and Helen Buni, from the Technical Cooperation Division, were in Jamaica for the launch and meeting, which were hosted by the Maritime Authority of Jamaica.
One of the drivers of the IWMS programme has been the establishment of formal regional linkages between women managers in the maritime and port sectors, to provide a permanent channel for the exchange of information relating particularly to the effective implementation of international instruments. Six other associations have been established under the auspices of IMO, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands.