Spain and IMO have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim to provide technical cooperation to support capacity-building activities in English and Spanish-speaking countries. Such activities will seek to support implementation of IMO regulations, raise awareness of IMO’s mandate and contribute to sustainable maritime transport and the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Namely, the MoU covers a wide range of technical cooperation areas, including:
- search and rescue;
- maritime training and the human element;
- passenger ship safety;
- maritime communications and navigation;
- fishing vessel safety;
- port reception facilities;
- casualty investigation;
- air pollution reduction;
- oil and chemical pollution response;
- maritime legislation;
- maritime single window;
- liability and compensation regime.;
- flag, port and coastal State jurisdiction;
- framework and Procedures for the IMO Member State Audit Scheme; and
- national maritime transport policies.
The MoU was signed by Mr. Benito Nuñez Quintanilla, the Director-General for Merchant Marine, and IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim, on the sidelines of the Torremolinos Ministerial Conference on Safety of Fishing Vessels and Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing, on 21-23 October.
During the event, 48 states signed a public declaration to indicate their determination to ratify the 2012 Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety, a significant regime to create much-needed safety standards for fishing vessels.
The MoU with Spain replaces and updates a previous one signed in 2009.
