Singapore rep appointed as Chair of Working Group on Strategic Plan at IMO meeting

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on Tuesday (18 July) said an MPA officer, Mr Darrick Leow, currently First Secretary (Maritime) at the Singapore High Commission in London, has been appointed Chair of the Working Group on the Strategic Plan (WG SP) at 129th session of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council (C129).

It said the Council is the executive organ of the IMO, which comprises 175 Member States. It is responsible for supervising the work of the IMO and oversees matters such as strategy and planning. 

“Since Singapore’s election as an IMO Council member in 1993, Singapore has played an active role to advance the IMO’s goals of facilitating safe, secure and sustainable shipping,” it said.

Among its contributions to the Council’s work, Singapore had, in May 2023, prepared a draft IMO Strategic Plan for the six-year period from 2024 to 2029. The Strategic Plan will set out the IMO’s vision, overarching principles, strategic directions and performance indicators for the coming six years. The draft was co-sponsored by 26 Council members and was widely supported by other IMO’s Member States.

WG SP was established at C129 to continue developing the draft Strategic Plan, which upon finalisation would be presented for consideration and adoption by the 33rd session of the IMO Assembly.

MPA also congratulated Mr Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco (Republic of Panama) on his election as the tenth Secretary-General of the IMO for a four-year term, commencing 1 January 2024. 

Mr Dominguez will succeed Mr Kitack Lim (Republic of Korea), upon completion of his second four-year term as Secretary- General on 31 December 2023. The election took place on 18 July 2023 at C129 and the Council’s decision will be forwarded for approval at the 33rd session of the IMO Assembly in late 2023.

Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Published: 19 July, 2023