Workshop for signatory states to Jeddah Amendment to IMO’s DCoC held in Saudi Arabia
Better and stronger infrastructure for sharing information is vital to support maritime sector development and a sustainable blue economy. That was one of the key conclusions from a high-level workshop in Saudi Arabia for signatory states to the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC), the IMO-led cooperation agreement that has been instrumental in repressing piracy and armed robbery against ships in the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, IMO says in a press release.
Participants agreed that, as a basis for effective regional cooperation, it was important to establish national information sharing centres to coordinate activities of national maritime security and law-enforcement agencies.
The workshop considered ways to enhance the existing regional information-sharing network to meet the increased requirements of the 2017 Jeddah Amendment, which significantly broadened the DCoC's scope to cover other illicit maritime activities such as human trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. It was agreed that the functions and capacities of the three information sharing centres established under the DCoC should be assessed to identify where capacity-building assistance might be needed.
Participants welcomed the capacity-building work of IMO and a host of other international organizations, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, the European Union and several individual governments and NGOs, and invited other organizations to offer their assistance.
The workshop, at the Mohammed Bin Nayef Academy of Marine Science and Security Studies in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, brought together 69 senior officials from 18 DCoC States (Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, France, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen) and supporting countries and organizations under the theme "Addressing maritime security challenges through regional cooperation and goodwill".
Workshop Chair, Vice Admiral Awwad Eid Al-Aradi Al-Balawi, Head of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Border Guard, reminded participants of the need to address the root causes of piracy and other crimes. He highlighted the achievements made in the region since the DCoC and the Jeddah Amendment were signed, in 2009 and 2017 respectively.
