IMO Goodwill Ambassadors meeting was held at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Headquarters on 25-26 September in London. In addition, World Maritime Day was celebrated at the IMO Headquarters.
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim warmly applauded the sterling work of goodwill ambassadors in promoting the seafaring professions and raising awareness about maritime sector and highly acclaimed the activities undertaken in their countries.
The meeting that was attended by IMO Goodwill Maritime Ambassadors and representatives of various countries focused on the contributions of goodwill maritime ambassadors to the maritime sector, along with holding detailed discussions on one of the recent pressing issues such as the role and position of importance of women in the maritime industry. During the meeting the development of effective communication plans, social initiatives, holding workshops and seminars on maritime transport issues were also discussed. The participants were informed on the need to develop key guidelines and mechanisms to create a comprehensive roadmap detailing the role of ambassadors. The meeting heard that goodwill maritime ambassadors that were divided into the group of 10 within the 4 regions, namely Asia, Pacific, Europe and Africa, Caribbean, will work jointly on implementing activities of Technical Cooperation Committee of IMO.
IMO Goodwill Maritime Ambassador Farhad Mammadov, Head of the Law, Human recourses and International Relations Department of the State Maritime Agency, informed on the measures introduced in the maritime field and notified that he held meetings with students in order to discuss the key issues that were high on the agenda, particularly the important amendments and to advise on the issues that stimulated interest among students. He highlighted that the students were offered to do an internship at the State Maritime Agency so that to obtain practical experience with the aim of encouraging young professionals to pursue a successful career in the maritime industry. According to Farhad Mammadov, within the framework of International Women’s Day Celebrations, he hosted workshop on how to manage gender imbalance in the maritime sector. The workshop addressed to the employees and students from maritime industry. It promoted vigorous debate over the topics such as equality and inclusion within the maritime sector, UN Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality, finding solutions on overcoming barriers and increasing the balanced workforce by promoting maritime profession among women.
In addition, the global maritime community celebrated World Maritime Day 2019, under the theme “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community” at the IMO Headquarters. It is worth mentioning that World Maritime Day is officially announced by United Nations and it provides an opportunity to focus attention on the importance of maritime activities and to emphasize a particular aspect of IMO’s work, apart from this each year is celebrated under its own world maritime theme.
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim emphasized that helping Member States achieve the SDGs and deliver the 2030 Agenda is one of the key strategic directions. By highlighting the role of women in the maritime community, Kitack Lim stressed that efforts will be continuing and long-term in support of achieving SDG objectives.
Secretary-General highlighted the significance of empowering women in the maritime world, constantly challenging old-fashioned perceptions and diversity that is better for teamwork, leadership and commercial performance. He underlined that for the achievement of development with support of IMO it was important to achieve gender balance by ensuring equal employment opportunities for women.
The event focused on facilitating access to high-level technical training for women in the maritime sector in developing countries, creating the environment in which women are identified and selected for career development opportunities in maritime administrations and training institutes and facilitating the establishment of professional women in maritime associations, particularly in developing countries.