IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim is in the United States this week for a series of meetings and engagements. Yesterday (3 May) he visited the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI), North America’s largest seaman’s welfare agency, where he met volunteers and learnt about the SCI’s pioneering effort to develop a new, practical form of headwear for seafarers (photos). SCI has encouraged volunteers all over the world to knit hats to the unique new design and donate them to seafarers via SCI.
Later, he addresses officers and officials from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in Washington DC about the vital role played by such organizations in properly implementing and enforcing IMO’s global standards.
Yesterday, he also spoke at the 42nd International Conference of the Comité International Maritime (CMI), hosted by the Maritime Law Association of the United States in New York. Here, he highlighted the historic links between the two organizations and expressed his hope that the draft convention on the judicial sale of ships, drafted by CMI, would prove another successful collaboration.