Yesterday, the Global Centre for Maritime Sanctions Monitoring held its first meeting after being set up officially in Malta. The meeting, between shipping-registry compliance officers, flag-registry authorities and foreign ambassadors took place at the Hotel Excelsior in Valletta along with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The meeting was held in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
In a statement, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs said that conference gathered up to 37 shipping-registry authorities along with compliance and governance officers and sought ways to address systematic deficiencies in the flag-registry system including obfuscation methods such regular flag-changes and lack of verifications.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Borg said that Malta, as the sixth largest flag-register in the world, is committed to ensure that its flag is not abused. He added that international coordination would ensure better results in enforcement regulations. Transport Minister Chris Bonett echoed the Foreign Minister’s remarks and said that international cooperation between fla-regostires is needed to address systematic gaps and vulnerabilities.
Siri Bjune, the head of the UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme, said that the EU-funded programme, Maritime UN Sanctions Evasion (MUSE project) will be working closelyely wiht the Malta-based Global Centre for Maritime Sanctions Monitoring to extend its international work.
Newsroom
Leave a Reply