(NEWS) National Maritime Transport Policy Workshop Delivered in Madagascar

November

2019

National Maritime Transport Policy Workshop Delivered in Madagascar

Madagascar is the latest country to benefit from the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) work promoting good maritime governance to support sustainable development. A workshop starting the process to develop a National Maritime Transport Policy (NMTP) for the country took place in the capital, Antananarivo from 13-15 November.

Forty participants from across government departments and relevant stakeholders took part and decided to complete a draft policy in early 2020. All relevant government entities and stakeholders would be involved in the process, with the goal being to contribute to the country’s sustainable socio-economic development and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The workshop was organized by IMO and the Agence Portuaire, Maritime et Fluviale, with support from the World Maritime University (WMU). WMU Associate Professor Raphael Baumler and Technical Officer Khanssa Lagdami were the WMU instructor’s supporting delivery of the workshop. WMU has contributed to the delivery of several NMTP workshops as part of IMO’s strategy to assist countries, and in particular, developing countries, to put in place a National Maritime Transport Policy. Previous seminars have been held in Cambodia, Fiji, Georgia, Kenya, Ghana, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Seychelles, Thailand, Myanmar, Chile, Nigeria and St Lucia.

At the request of IMO, WMU developed the Training Package that contains an Instructor’s Manual with nine modules for the 3-Day Workshop and five sessions for the One-Day Seminar, as well as a Manual for Pedagogics, to support the delivery in IMO member States. The topics covered include Defining and Designing Transport Maritime Policy, Strategies and Objectives, the Development Process, clarifying the role of International Maritime Law and its integration in policy making, Economic Maritime Setting and delineating national priorities, Environmental Rationale and mainstreaming it into the policy process, Safety and Security factors and recognizing the value of Seafarers in maritime policy.

WMU’s delivery of the NMTP Training Package reflects its capacity building mission and a commitment to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, in particular, Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development and Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. Such seminars and workshops are also in line with the WMU Strategic Plan 2016-2019, in particular, strategic direction 2 focused on strengthening teaching of maritime policy and strategic direction 7 that calls for further collaboration with IMO.

Find out more about the National Maritime Transport Policy concept, what it is and how it works, by watching IMO’s NMTP video, here.

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