Technical Cooperation Committee, 67th session, 17-19 July (closing remarks)

Sixty-seventh Session of the Technical Cooperation Committee
Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Closing Remarks by the Secretary-General

Thank you, Mr. Chair,

As you are approaching the end of the sixty-seventh session of your Committee, I can feel a sense of satisfaction that you have succeeded in accomplishing the tasks you set out with significant achievements within a very short period of time.

Allow me, therefore, to highlight some of the objectives you have achieved at this session. Your Committee favourably considered the ITCP delivery for 2016 including the modest achievements made during the period. You further considered and approved the proposed ITCP for the next biennium, 2018-2019 as well as the TC Fund allocation of some US$13 million to support the Programme’s core activities.

I look forward to the favourable consideration and approval of your proposals by Council at its 118th session next week.

Your Committee also considered and approved the successful work of your Intersessional Working Group, especially the linkage of IMO’s technical assistance work with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I am pleased to note that your Committee positively considered the central role of the Organization’s Strategic Direction (SD 1) in all the identified Sustainable Development Goals which are most relevant to technical assistance work. As you are well aware of, effective implementation cannot be achieved without investing in Member State capacity building, which is a crucial part of this Organization’s work.

Additionally, you approved the Amendment to the Rules of Operation of the TC Fund as well as Amendment of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee and Application of the Committee’s guidelines.

Your approval of the three draft Assembly resolutions is a significant outcome of your work this week. The resolutions, when endorsed by Council and adopted by the thirtieth Assembly, will form the core of technical assistance work in the years ahead.

Furthermore, your Committee’s Work Programme for 2018-2021, received your favourable consideration. You also gave due consideration to ongoing efforts with regard to the long-term financing of the ITCP, which is of crucial importance to the sustainability of technical cooperation work at both the global and regional levels.

The critical role which the Regional Presence Scheme plays in the delivery of the ITCP at the grass-roots levels, was positively acknowledged by your Committee and in so doing, reaffirmed the Committee’s support for the existing modest Regional Presence Scheme.

Distinguished delegates,

All these good works and achievements would not have been possible without your cooperation and collaboration and indeed the overwhelming support you gave to your very able Chair, Mr. Zulkurnain Ayub of Malaysia and his Vice-Chair, His Excellency Mr. Laurent Parenté of Vanuatu. I wish to also convey my special thanks to the Committee’s officers and all staff of the Technical Cooperation Division led by Mr. Juvenal Shiundu, the Acting Director, for their collective effort and hard work.

Distinguished delegates,

Last but not least, we say farewell and thank whole-heartedly IMO colleagues who will be retiring in the coming months. I would just single out:

Mr. Ashok Mahapatra, Director of the Maritime Safety Division;

Mr. Youqiang Li, Director of the Conference Division;

Mr. Milhar Fuazudeen, Head of the Maritime Training and Human Element, Maritime Safety Division; and

Mrs. Beatrice Ayettey (Nee Vormawah), Head, Audit Support Services of the Department for Member State Audit and Implementation Support.

The Marine Environment Division will also see the departure of highly valued colleagues. They are: Mr. Edward Kleverlaan, Head of the Office for the London Convention and Protocol and Ocean Affairs and Mr. James Paw, Technical Officer of the Subdivision for Implementation, who will retire soon after their recent and last MEPC meeting. Also leaving us, for new pastures, will be Mr. Markus Helavuori, Technical Officer in charge of Ballast Water Management.

Please join me in thanking all the retiring staff for their unfailing commitment and services to the Organization and wish them well for a long, happy and healthy retirement or involvement in new careers, as the case may be.

My closing remarks will not be complete without expressing my thanks to the Conference Division and the interpreters, who have continuously provided the vital link which enabled us to communicate effectively with each other during the session.

It is now left for me to wish you all a safe journey back to your respect duty stations as I look forward to welcoming you again at the sixty-eighth session of your Committee in 2018 and the thirtieth Assembly of the Organization later this year.

Thank you.

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