Uganda joins international maritime agency
Dec 20, 2009
UGANDA has become the seventh non-coastal state and the 169th member to the UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) after depositing an instrument of acceptance before the IMO secretary general during the 26th regular session of assembly in London, t
By Samuel Balagadde
UGANDA has become the seventh non-coastal state and the 169th member to the UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) after depositing an instrument of acceptance before the IMO secretary general during the 26th regular session of assembly in London, the UK.
John Nasasira, the works minister, told the assembly that Uganda was proud to be a member of the IMO family.
“Uganda is a non-coastal country and accesses the sea at the port of Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam in Kenya and Tanzania, who are also our partners in the East African Community.
“We will benefit from services that accrue to any country that subscribes to IMO,†said Nasasira.
IMO regulates the international shipping, maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and facilitates
maritime trade.
IMO was one of the institutions that supported Uganda when MV Kabalega sunk in Lake Victoria in 2005.
In 2008, the number of piracy attacks off East Africa rose astronomically, totalling 135 by the close of the year.
This resulted into 44 seized ships and more than 600 seafarers kidnapped.
Nasasira also held a meeting with Efthimios Mitropoulos, the IMO secretary-general.
Mitropoulos promised to send IMO mission to Uganda in 2010 for needs assessment in the maritime sector.
Uganda has so far benefited from IMO technical assistance through training aimed at improving safety on the lake and the draft model regulations to operationalise the Lake Victoria Transport Act, 2007, which became operational on November 1, 2009.
Uganda expects to ratify a number of maritime conventions to further benefit from IMO.
“Uganda is now not seeking herself as a landlocked country but a land-linked after becoming a member of IMO,†said Nasasira.
UGANDA has become the seventh non-coastal state and the 169th member to the UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) after depositing an instrument of acceptance before the IMO secretary general during the 26th regular session of assembly in London, the UK.
John Nasasira, the works minister, told the assembly that Uganda was proud to be a member of the IMO family.
“Uganda is a non-coastal country and accesses the sea at the port of Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam in Kenya and Tanzania, who are also our partners in the East African Community.
“We will benefit from services that accrue to any country that subscribes to IMO,†said Nasasira.
IMO regulates the international shipping, maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and facilitates
maritime trade.
IMO was one of the institutions that supported Uganda when MV Kabalega sunk in Lake Victoria in 2005.
In 2008, the number of piracy attacks off East Africa rose astronomically, totalling 135 by the close of the year.
This resulted into 44 seized ships and more than 600 seafarers kidnapped.
Nasasira also held a meeting with Efthimios Mitropoulos, the IMO secretary-general.
Mitropoulos promised to send IMO mission to Uganda in 2010 for needs assessment in the maritime sector.
Uganda has so far benefited from IMO technical assistance through training aimed at improving safety on the lake and the draft model regulations to operationalise the Lake Victoria Transport Act, 2007, which became operational on November 1, 2009.
Uganda expects to ratify a number of maritime conventions to further benefit from IMO.
“Uganda is now not seeking herself as a landlocked country but a land-linked after becoming a member of IMO,†said Nasasira.