IMO and the Republic of Korea have signed agreements to boost Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding for two new projects, to tackle marine litter in East Asia and to develop and pilot test a tailor-made web-based e-navigation service in the Philippines; A third agreement was signed to support the port-related training needs of LDCs and SIDS to reduce emissions from the maritime sector.
The three agreements were signed (17 July) by IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim and Mr. Jonguk Hong, Director General of Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of Republic of Korea, during an event on the sidelines of the IMO Council 129th session.
The signings follow the signing of the IMO- Republic of Korea agreement for the SMART-C Women Project on 18 May, the international day for women in maritime, to boost training for women in the maritime sector.
The acronym SMART-C stands for Sustainable Maritime Transport Cooperation, and the acronym itself captures all what the projects aim for.
The three signings relate to the RegLitter Project and the SMART-C Traffic Project under the US$20 million SMART-C Partnership framework funded through Republic of Korea's ODA mechanism; and the GHG SMART Expansion Project.
The RegLitter project will aim to tackle sea-based marine plastic litter through capacity building and policy and institutional reforms at national level, leading to regional cooperation in East Asia. This regional project will build on the work implemented under the ongoing Norway-IMO-FAO Glolitter Project that is building a global foundation to address this important issue.
The SMART-C Traffic project aims to support the Government of Philippines in the implementation of relevant regulations in the SOLAS Convention and to develop and pilot test a tailor-made web-based e-navigation service that can efficiently analyse and manage maritime safety information and search and rescue related information in an internet-based environment in the Philippines.
The GHG SMART Expansion aims at supporting the port -elated training needs of LDCs and SIDS to reduce emissions from maritime sector. This will be an expansion of the scope of the ongoing and successful IMO-Republic of Korea GHG-SMART project that focuses on shipping, and aims to prepare these countries for implementation of the IMO GHG Strategy.
Overall funding support for these three projects will be around US$12.3 million dollars. The projects will run on average for four to five years.
IMO's Department for Partnerships and Projects will be coordinating the implementation of the projects, in close cooperation with IMO's Technical Cooperation Division and with technical backstopping from Marine Environment Division, Maritime Safety Division and Legal Division.
Two further SMART-C agreements are planned to be signed later this year which will bring the total value of the projects under this Republic of Korea ODA programme to approximately US$20 million.
This represents the first time that IMO is able to access dedicated large ODA funding of any of the OECD countries and marks a milestone in IMO's efforts to mobilise ODA resources.
"We do hope that more ODA agencies will take note of this development and this innovative IMO-Republic of Korea partnership model and view maritime as an important sector where development assistance can make meaningful impacts for the people and the planet," said Jose Matheickal, Director of IMO's Department of Partnerships and Projects (DPP).
