(NEWS) National Maritime Transport Policy Workshop in Georgia

September

2016

National Maritime Transport Policy Workshop in Georgia

WMU delivered a National Maritime Transport Policy (NMTP) Seminar in Georgia for Senior Maritime Transport Officials from the littoral States of the Black and Caspian Seas and Moldova on 16 September. This is the third Seminar WMU has delivered as part of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) strategy to assist countries, and in particular, developing countries, to put in place a National Maritime Transport Policy. The previous seminars were held in Cambodia and Fiji.

Mr. Kitack Lim, IMO Secretary-General, opened the one-day Seminar which was scheduled immediately after the Georgia International Maritime Forum (GIMF). WMU Associate Professors Patrick Donner and George Theocharidis were the instructors responsible for the delivery of the seminar along with Jonathan Pace, Head of the Programme Management & Maritime Transport Policy in the Technical Cooperation Division of the IMO.

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 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.

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