News item | 01-12-2023 | 14:03
The Kingdom of the Netherlands was re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Friday. The Council is the ‘daily administration’ of this UN maritime organization and consists of 40 of the 175 member states. The Council is elected every two years.
Maritime shipping is a global sector for which measures at a global level are most effective. With its seat on the Council, the Netherlands will also be in the driver’s seat for the next 2 years, and we can help determine how the IMO implements major maritime and social tasks. In recent years, the Council has been working on a safe grain corridor through the Black Sea and on the safe continuation of maritime shipping during the COVID crisis.
Over the next two years, the Netherlands will work to ensure that the IMO works efficiently and transparently, and to ensure that the IMO is able to take concrete steps in the areas of sustainability, shipping safety and drug-related crime at sea.
The Netherlands is one of the ambitious countries within the IMO in the field of sustainability. Partly thanks to the efforts of the Netherlands, it has been agreed that maritime shipping must be climate neutral by 2050, in order to contribute to the objectives of the Paris Treaty. It is now important to agree on concrete measures to achieve that goal, and it is important that all countries can participate in this transition.
What makes the maritime sector attractive to the global economy also makes it a target for organized crime. The large drug seizures in the port of Rotterdam are a regular reminder of this. The Netherlands wants to pay more attention to the fight against organized crime within the IMO in the coming years. Together with a number of like-minded countries, including Belgium, we will focus on this in the coming years.
“The Netherlands has traditionally been a seafaring nation and has almost always been a member of the IMO Council,” said Minister Mark Harbers. “With Rotterdam we have one of the largest ports in the world, and the maritime sector accounts for 3 percent of our economy. It is good news that we have been re-elected, so that we will continue to be at the helm of the IMO for cleaner and safe shipping with a seat in the Council in the coming years.”