• International Maritime Pilots' Association (IMPA)
Another leading activity in the field of maritime transport, Thailand hosted the 19 th International Maritime Pilots' Association (IMPA) Congress on 4-8 August 2008 in Bangkok The Congress was attended by representatives of pilots' association from 40 countries focusing on the theme “Pilots – Moving Forward Together”. Major issues discussed at the Congress included the use of standard Portable Pilot Units (PPU), pilots and environmental and energy concern, pilot safety, IMPA's work strategy and country reports focusing on exchange of experiences, several of which are supportive to the work of IMO.
• Seminar on Marine Pollution Prevention
The Marine Department of Thailand in collaboration with the Japan Association of Marine Pollution Safety (JAMS) and the Nippon Foundation organized a Joint Exercise and Seminar on Prevention of Marine Pollution Caused by Oil Spill and Hazardous Noxious Substances on 28 – 29 January 2009 at the Marine Department in Bangkok . The first day of this activity was devoted for the joint exercise in which a scenario of oil spill caused by the collision of vessels was provided while the activity of the second day focused more on exchange of knowledge and experiences in combating oil spill and hazardous noxious substances from ships. As Thailand intended to share its experiences with other countries in the region, observers from ASEAN Member Countries and Japan were also invited to attend the seminar and joint exercise.
• Voluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme
Thailand volunteered among the first 25 members to participate in the Voluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme. It was audited by a team of IMO auditors in October 2007, resulting in tremendous improvement in its implementation of mandatory IMO instruments. Realizing the benefits of VIMSAS in improving the implementation of IMO mandatory instruments to global maritime community and the difficulties of developing / least developed countries in joining VIMSAS due to financial limitations, Thailand is of the view that IMO should provide some forms of technical assistance as well as sources of financial support to those Member States. Thailand also would like to encourage Member States already participated in VIMSAS to share their experiences with those which have yet but wish to join.
• Port State Control
Thailand hosted the 17 th Seminar for Port State Control Officers in the Asia-Pacific Region in June 2009 in Bangkok . The primary objective of this seminar is to enhance the capability of PSC officers by exchanging expertise and experiences in port state control activities. It is expected that the outcomes of the seminar will lead to more effective work on port State control among members of Tokyo MOU, resulting in safer shipping in the region.
• Other activities
So far, Thailand has exchanged its information and experiences in the field of water transport with missions from several countries, to name a few, India ( Assam ), Indonesia , Nigeria and Malawi on their technical visits.
Having realized the difference in development between developed and developing Member States and the difficulty of the latter in implementing IMO instruments, Thailand still maintains its position in devoting itself to bridge such developmental gap by continuing to share its experiences in implementing IMO standards and conventions, some of which have already been mentioned above, particularly with developing and least developed countries. With such intention, Thailand is confident that its continual efforts in this way will more or less help creating balance among Member States and contribute to safe, clean and efficient international shipping of the global maritime community.
In this regard, Thailand wishes to present itself in the re-election to the IMO Council in category “C” at the election scheduled to take place during the 26thSession of the IMO Assembly. Therefore, Thailand would highly appreciate kind support of IMO Member States for the upcoming election of IMO Council. |
