(NEWS) National Maritime Transport Policy Workshop in St. Lucia

July

2016

National Maritime Transport Policy Workshop in St. Lucia

From 22-24 June, WMU delivered a National Maritime Transport Policy (NMTP) Workshop in St. Lucia. This is part of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) strategy to assist countries, in particular, developing countries, to put in place a National Maritime Transport Policy. At the request of IMO, WMU developed a Training Package containing nine modules, including an Instructor’s Manual and a Manual for Pedagogics, to support the delivery of Workshops and Seminars in IMO member States.

Mr. Nicolaos Charalambous, Director, Technical Cooperation Division and Mr. Jonathan Pace, Maritime Policy Development Officer, represented IMO at the Workshop. Associate Professors Patrick Donner and George Theocharidis were the WMU’s instructors supporting the delivery of the modules.

The topics covered included 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. Twenty participants from the St. Lucia Air and Sea Port Authority (SLASPA) attended the workshop and the participants adopted a set of conclusions.

WMU’s participation in the workshop reflects its capacity building mission as well as WMU’s commitment to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and, 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 recently adopted 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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