WMU Bids Farewell to Chancellor Lim
On 6 December, Professor Maximo Q. Mejia, Jr., President of the World Maritime University (WMU), addressed the 33rd session of the Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in a farewell tribute on behalf of the University to outgoing IMO Secretary-General, Mr Kitack Lim, who served concurrently as Chancellor of WMU and is the first WMU alumnus to serve in both roles. President Mejia’s Remarks are as follows:
Mr. President: Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to take the floor.
Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,
In this tribute, I represent two groups of people. The first group I represent are all the past and present students of the World Maritime University – more than 6,000 of us in 170 countries and territories. When Mr. Kitack Kim was elected Secretary-General in 2015, it was the greatest honour for WMU alumni that one of their fellow graduates had been appointed to the apex office in the maritime world.
Mr. Secretary-General,
We know how proud you are of the University.. As an alumnus, you never miss an opportunity to interact with WMU students or fellow graduates and to inspire us to collectively act as a force for good in the maritime and oceans spaces. We are also grateful that you care so much for the welfare of the University’s students. On your initiative, important renovations to improve WMU students’ quality of life at the Henrik Smith Residence were made possible through the IMO Voyage Together Trust Fund endowed by the Government of the Republic of Korea. .
Mr. President,
The second group I represent in paying tribute to Secretary General Lim is the WMU staff. WMU saw unparalleled growth and other achievements under Mr. Lim’s 8-year leadership as University Chancellor. He fostered closer relations, closer collaboration with WMU’s parent organization, the IMO. His strong support and influence helped facilitate the accreditation of WMU degrees by the Government of Sweden, the affiliation of WMU staff with the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, and generally to significant gains in the financial sustainability of the University.
Also, over his 8 years as Secretary-General, he has steered the Organization through a host of important issues such as the IMO GHG Strategy, the humanitarian crisis impacting the well-being of seafarers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, inclusion of the human element in the IMO's strategic plan, comprehensive review of the STCW Convention, among many others. This also means that WMU staff now have enough teaching material and research topics to keep it even busier for many years to come.
Mr. President, allow me to close with 4 words in Latin dedicated to Sir Christopher Wren, architect of one of the celebrated St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. At St. Paul’s you will find the inscription SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS, CIRCUMSPICE - If you seek his monument, look around you. If you wish to see a testimonial to Mr. Kitack Lim, you need not look further. Simply look around you – in this great hall, in the corridors of WMU, the meeting rooms of IMO, and the fairways of world shipping. We salute you, Secretary-General, and wish you fair winds and following seas in what I am sure is a long list of future endeavours.
Thank you, Mr. President.
