The Gambians serially hosted the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control for West and Central African Region ( the Abuja MoU) 12th Port State Control Committee meeting between November 10 and 11 while the 4th Ministerial Conference for the Hon Ministers in charge of maritime activities was held on November 12th; where all the member States were present to discuss achievements, adequacies and further enumerate on the repositioning of Port State Control regimes in the West and Central African ports.
In his opening speech, the Secretary General, Abuja MoU, Captain Sunday Umoren lauded the effort of the member states who are financially committed to the advancement of the MoU.
Capt. Umoren, however, charged the DGs, Port Administrators and Ministers of Transportation across the region and the continent to optimize performance in terms of port State inspections and vessel examination with the aim to rid the region of substandard vessels.
The Secretary General reported that the MoU has commenced ISO certification to drive its service delivery and occasioned a positive paradigm shift, in accordance with international best practices and further highlighted other achievements recorded in the past year.
Below is an excerpt from the SG’s speech:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are on the right trajectory to being one of the top quartile MoUs but agree that much is yet to be done with respect to the actualization of our objectives. It is high time we moved away from just organizing meetings and giving speeches to walking-the-talk.
“In this bid, the Secretariat will be presenting to the committee our Proposed Mission and Vision Statements and the newly drafted core values, which we believe, if adopted, will set the tone in driving productivity at all levels.
The secretariat remains resolute in focusing on operational excellence and is continuing in its bid to build a database of Subject Matter Experts in the Region. This drive is slow in kicking off mostly because countries are yet to submit this list to us.
“To enable the Secretariat, provide the requisite services to our member States, we once again propose the creation of Abuja MoU desk in the MARADs and overseeing / responsible Ministry to assist in effective and efficient communication, and updating of our database and to be kept abreast of inevitable changes in leadership at Member States.
“The Secretariat have set up several plans to push Abuja MoU forward, some of these include:
“The Signing of Data Sharing Agreement with countries that have Maritime Domain Awareness (MDAs) for real time monitoring of errant vessels.
“Working with the Maritime Training Institutes (MTIs) in the region for the conduct of CoP for Port State Control Officers.
“Collaboration with Port Authorities in the region for the training on the expectations from them with regards to the required support and synergy for effective Port State regime. The training package is ready and we are open to any country (could be the Gambia) being the first beneficiary. The training will be at no cost to the recipient Port Authority
“More training for our PSCOs and policymakers; Sourcing for trainings for our PSCOs;
Bringing onboard the remaining four (4) States who are yet to become full members, to mention a few.“
"For all of the above will not come to fruition if members constantly disregard the importance of their financial commitment. You would agree with me that it would be unfair for member States to look to the Secretariat to deliver on its tasks and mandates without enabling it. It is my fervent hope that one day, this lack of financial commitment by Member States, which has become a singsong year in year out, will be a thing of the past. “I salute the Member States who have, in recent time, strived to send in their contributions and I encourage other member States to follow suit.
Lastly, the Abuja MoU region is eagerly awaiting to welcome the Republic of Mauritania, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo as full members of the MoU. We at Secretariat and the Chairman will work assiduously to bring them onboard,” Umoren said.
One of the high points of the meeting was the election of a new Chairman of the MoU. In his speech, the newly elected president, Abuja MoU, Minister for Transportation, Works and Infrastructures of the Republic of Gambia, Mr. Ebrima Sillah called for integration of efforts to bring about the expected result in African ports.
Hon. Ebrima believes that preserving the integrity of maritime regulatory frameworks in the West and Central African regions is the business of all which has significant economic ramifications.
According to him, “In the words of the American Author Helen Keller and I quote "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
"This resonates so much with the type of integration that our great region would have benefited a lot from if we look at ourselves as a whole and not constituent parts that can stand alone.
"As this MOU is one of the 9 MOUs for the region, it is important to strengthen our efforts to ensure that challenges faced by the Abuja MOU such as lack of well-trained Port State Control Officers; the financial commitment of Member States; Ratification and domestication of the MOU among others are mitigated.
"Therefore, Mr. Chairman, as a signatory to this MOU, the Government of The Gambia assures you and the Secretariat that it would be ratified and domesticated as required.
"The DG of the Maritime Administration would be instructed to start the process soon.
“Preserving the integrity of our maritime regulatory frame in the West and Central African regions is the business of all which has significant economic ramifications. For instance, a single avoidable maritime accident or incident such as an oil spill, or waste discharge can have life-long socio-economic impact on our populations at a very high cost.
"It is therefore imperative that we strengthen cooperation within the regional level to provide strong and effective port state control inspection mechanisms to keep shipping safe and vibrant in our respective regions.
“The realisation of an effective and standardized regulatory framework for shipping is contingent on us all to collaborate within and outside our various jurisdictions. This will not only make shipping safe in our waters, but also boost trade and create employment for our people. Moreover, we must also tap into this vast gold mine of sea transport as an economic lifeline in the regions boost socio-economic development of MOWCA region and remove trade barriers which pose as threats and obstacles to peace, security and development.
"While there are significant obstacles to overcome this highest possible goal, we must not forget that the implementation of port state control inspection regimes must be in accordance with procedures laid down by the Abuja Accord. There is a huge capacity gap between member states in the conduction of port state control inspection and ratification of relevant maritime conventions.
"Therefore, countries are encouraged to ratify all relevant maritime conventions and build capacity to ensure full implementation of these policies.”
The meeting was successful and all attendees agreed on all the proposals presented by the secretariat and agreed to work together for improved port state control regime.
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