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Bangladesh has won the 175-member International Maritime Organization (IMO) council election 2023 held in London at the IMO headquarters in category C, securing 128 votes.
This is the first time Bangladesh has won the election in the highly competitive ‘Category C’ of the IMO, reports UNB.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and Permanent Representative to the IMO, Saida Muna Tasneem, said Bangladesh’s election to the International Maritime Organisation’s elite 40-member council is a testimony of the confidence and trust that the IMO member states and the international maritime community place on Bangladesh’s leadership as a maritime nation and action led by the prudent leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The high commissioner expressed her gratitude to the IMO members for electing Bangladesh as a Council member and reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to IMO’s charter of actions for dealing with the maritime.
She also expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Shipping of Bangladesh and especially thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her bold decision to compete in the IMO council election in 2023.
Earlier, Saida Muna Tasneem was elected by consensus vice president of the 33rd assembly of the IMO during which the election took place.
IMO is the only UN specialised body that regulates global shipping standards that affects ship operating flag states, seafarers, and maritime safety, security and marine pollution.
Bangladesh’s international trade, of which 90 per cent is operated by the sea, and transition of Bangladesh’s maritime ports into green, digitalised and smarter ports, and Bangladesh’s compliance with the Hong Kong convention on ship recycling usage of greener fuels, and other critically important issues to Bangladesh’s shipping and maritime industry are some of the key issues that Bangladesh would be negotiating at the IMO council during the term 2024-25, according to Bangladesh High Commission in London.
The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization elected the members of its Council for the 2024-2025 biennium on December 1.
The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the organisation.
Between sessions of the Assembly, the Council performs the functions of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.
The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization elected the following states to be members of the Council for the 2024-2025 biennium:
Category (a)
10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services (listed in alphabetical order):
China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Norway, Panama, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Category (b)
10 States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates
Category (c)
20 States not elected under (a) or (b) above, which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world:
Bahamas, Bangladesh, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Türkiye.