Excellencies, Ambassadors,
Distinguished delegates,
It is great pleasure for me to provide concluding remarks on behalf of the Secretary-General of IMO on the occasion of the closing of the Singapore Meeting.
First of all, let me express our sincere appreciation to our host, Singapore, for the excellent preparation and arrangements for the Meeting and Indonesia and Malaysia for their co-operation and support to bring this Meeting to a successful conclusion. I believe we are really satisfied and pleased with the outcome of this important event.
We have come a long way since the IMO Council at its 93rd session which agreed that IMO could play a role in the protection of vital shipping lanes of strategic importance and authorized the Secretary-General to convene a Meeting on the enhancement of safety, security and environmental protection of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore in co-operation with the 3 littoral States. Since then we have had the groundbreaking first meeting in Jakarta in September 2005 which prepared the foundations for the development of co-operation between the littoral States, user States, users of the Straits and other entities concerned. This was followed by the second Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, which made excellent progress and saw the first proposal for the mechanism for co-operation.
The Singapore Meeting which we are about to conclude today with excellent outcome is the third and last one in this round of Meetings and we have made further substantial progress.
We have noted with appreciation the progress made by the littoral States on their activities, particularly with respect to the security of the Straits.
The efforts of the littoral States to prevent, combat and suppress acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships sailing through the Straits have brought good results. The main challenge faced now is to sustain, even develop further, the Malacca Straits Security Initiatives for many years to come.
The co-operative Mechanism has been developed to a stage where it is ready for implementation. Considerable progress has been made on the preparation of the six projects, and it is expected that they are implemented in the near future under the framework of the Co-operative Mechanism.
As we have recognized during this Meeting, the establishment of the co-operative mechanism is a historical achievement. With the presence and active participation of Ambassador Tommy Koh today we can also celebrate the realization of the spirit of article 43 of UNCLOS developed with due respect of sovereignty and jurisdiction of the littoral States, their rules and regulations in conformity with international law. The six projects to be implemented are those regional ones for the Straits of Malacca, but the scope and benefits of the Co-operative Mechanism are global.
During this Meeting, we have heard encouraging statements by Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, China, Cyprus, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Liberia, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States in support for the Co-operative Mechanism.
The industry's support was excellent and we are encouraged by statements by ICS, INTERTANKO, BIMCO, OCIMF and Asian Shipowners Forum.
The process we began two years ago has brought us such big and bright flowers here in Singapore today, called Co-operative Mechanism. They are even beginning to bear fruits. The initiative taken by China for replacement of light houses and beacons affected by tsunami demonstrated the leadership in our process which was followed by the United States, Australia, Republic of Korea, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Firm commitment by the Nippon Foundation for the one third of the Aids to Navigation Fund was truly substantial and remarkable and one of the highlights of the process as appreciated by all littoral States and IMO certainly joins in expressing our sincere appreciation to the Nippon Foundation for its long standing as well as renewed contributions for the maintenance of Aids to Navigation in Malacca and Singapore Straits.
Although we will put an end by concluding Singapore Meeting to this round of meetings of this level, we will maintain open channel of communication and this is certainly not an end of the process. This is a start of new round of work with different phase of operation - implementation of the Co-operative Mechanism as a springboard for future activities for the safety and environmental protection in the Malacca and Singapore Straits.
We will report the successful conclusion of this Meeting to the IMO Council in November and I am sure the Council and the IMO membership will respond positively to the request for the IMO Secretariat to participate in the Co-operative Mechanism, to continue to co-operate with the littoral States and to provide every assistance possible in making progress for the projects.
With that, the Secretariat will stand ready to play its role in operation of the Co-operative Mechanism and the realization of the Six Projects. |In parallel, we will also maintain our efforts to make further progress in the MEH Demonstration Project and related activities. All what remains for me to say is good luck to all of us in the implementation of the actions requested; thank you all for attending and contributing to the success of this meeting; and thank you all those officers of the three littoral States and IMO who put desperate efforts and spent a number of nights without sleep in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and here in Singapore; and thank you again to Singapore for hosting this event and Indonesia and Malaysia for co-operating and contributing to it in such an excellent manner.
