IMO has agreed to boost its regional presence, with the establishment of a regional office in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to be hosted in Alexandria, Egypt.

The IMO Technical Cooperation Committee (TCC), at its 72nd session held from 17 to 20 October, agreed to the establishment to enhance IMO’s coordination of technical assistance for the MENA region.

Current Regional Coordinators

It is understood that the new office will complement existing regional presence offices: five Regional Coordinators based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire for west and central Africa (Francophone); Accra, Ghana for west and central Africa (Anglophone); Nairobi, Kenya for eastern and southern Africa; Manila, the Philippines for East Asia; and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago for the Caribbean.

IMO has also been funding one Technical Cooperation Officer within the Pacific Community (SPC), based in Suva, Fiji, and a new regional presence office for the Pacific Islands will be operational in Fiji next year.

Taking account of the status quo

The Committee agreed that the new regional presence office for the MENA region would need to take into full consideration the marine environmental protection mandates of existing regional entities in the Mediterranean (REMPEC), Red Sea (PERSGA) and ROPME (MEMAC) sea areas.

The Committee noted support from delegations for considering the establishment of a regional presence office in the Latin America region and invited submissions to the next session of the Committee.

To see more on the IMO Technical Cooperation Committee (TC), 72nd session, of 17-20 October 2022 readers are invited to see here:

https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/MeetingSummaries/Pages/Technical-Cooperation-Committee-%28TC%29%2c-72nd-session%2c-17-20-October-2022.aspx

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