IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim has received Dr. Ann Fenech, as the new President of the Comité Maritime International (CMI). Dr. Fenech became the first female President in the CMI’s 125 year history.
During their meeting. Mr. Lim and Dr. Fenech discussed continued and future collaboration, including on issues such as Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) and fraudulent vessel registration.
Dr. Fenech takes the helm from President Chris Davis, and was most recently involved in representing the CMI as the chief co-ordinator for the CMI in Working Group V1 at UNCITRAL which was deliberating and working on the CMI Beijing Draft on Judicial Sales of Ships.
In June 2022, the Commission approved the draft convention and the convention is now before the General Assemly of the United Nations for adoption.
If we are to succeed in our objectives to keep our seas clean and international shipping safe and secure, cooperation on the global level is essential. This makes the long-standing and close relationship between IMO and CMI even more important going forward as new challenges arise
IMO Secretary-General stated.
The close cooperation between IMO and CMI dates back to 1967, when the Torrey Canyon oil tanker grounded off Southwestern England.
Two years later, in 1969, the Civil Liability Convention was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference held in Brussels, thanks to continued joint efforts between the two organizations.
What is more, in the decades before IMO was established, CMI adopted a number of international treaty instruments to regulate global shipping. These notably included:
- The 1910 Collision Convention, which established the rules for legal liability resulting from collisions of ships at sea;
- The 1910 Salvage Convention. The Salvage Convention now forms part of the body of treaties administered by IMO.
