WISTA International, the global body for women in the maritime world, has signed a MoU with APEC Seafarers Excellence Network (APEC SEN), which promotes well-qualified maritime workforce in Asia and globally, aiming to build a community that will attract and support women in the Asia Pacific Region.
The MoU was signed on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021 and outlines the collaborative and cooperative synergies to support the alignment to the WISTA Mission, the APEC Pillars on Empowerment of Women, and commitment to achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Under their cooperation, the two bodies will work together to establish a Mentor-Mentee Network that will empower future generation of maritime women professionals through mentoring seminars and/or international conference via webinars with the main focus on topics related to maritime transport.
Both bodies will also work to establish participants from the National WISTA Associations (NWAs) to participate in the APEC Seafarers Excellence Network (SEN) On-Board Training to foster competent young Future Maritime Global Leaders, as part of the APEC SEN project.
Another part of the MoU focuses on establishing the development of an Executive Certificate on Empowering Women in the Global Maritime Industry for the APEC member economies and the National WISTA Associations, as well as promotion of women’s participation in the maritime field through public campaigns and social media publications (e.g., production and distribution of promotional videos, interviews and articles).
This is a very welcome addition to the strategy we have of working with leading maritime organisations to support diversity in this vital global industry. APEC SEN has the knowledge and support of seafarers, many who are women, who recognise the need to align with other strong bodies to promote our work in shipping and other parts of the world’s maritime industry,
…said Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou, President of WISTA International.
Recognizing the importance of diversity and women inclusion in the international maritime industry, the cooperation among WISTA and APEC SEN will take practical actions to draw tangible outcomes in short- and long-term perspective, by fully aligning its projects with APEC Pillars on Empowerment of Women, WISTA Mission, and commitment the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with particular focus to Goal 5,
…added Dong Jae Lee, Secretary General of APEC SEN.
