As from April 2019, ships and ports will need to be able to exchange arrival and departure data electronically, under IMO’s Facilitation Convention. To facilitate compliance with this measure, training took place in Guinea from 13 to 15 of November and in Mauritania, from 20 to 22 of November.
IMO’s Facilitation Convention requires electronic data exchange to be implemented by all FAL Convention ships and ports. These requirements also encourage the use of a single window in which all the many agencies and authorities involved exchange data through a single point of contact.
Workshops for the training in the treaty requirements of the FAL Convention took place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea from 13 to 15 November and in Nouakchott, Mauritania from 20 to 22 November.
The seminars highlighted the objectives of the FAL Convention:
- To promote public authorities to process their clearance procedures effectively and efficiently.
- To make the clearance of ships, their cargoes, passengers and crews in ports less cumbersome and more expedient.
Forty-six participants attended the Malabo seminar, organized by IMO and the Ministry of Transport, Post and Telecommunications of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Twenty-one participants from public authorities and private sectors participate in the seminar in Nouakchott, organized by IMO and the Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Economy of Mauritania.
Further to improve understanding of FAL convention’s requirements, two National Seminars on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic have been delivered by International Maritime Organization (IMO), in cooperation with the Pacific Community (SPC), in Tarawa, Kiribati and in Honiara, the Solomon Islands in mid-November.
