MOWCA UNDATE 2/10

2nd Session of the Africa Union Conference of Ministers responsible for Maritime Transport held in Durban, South Africa from 12th to 16th October 2009

AU MINISTERS ADOPT THE AFRICAN MARITIME TRANSPORT CHARTER

The 2nd Session of the Africa Union Conference of Ministers responsible for Maritime Transport was successfully held in Durban, South Africa, from 12th to 16th October 2009

The conference was held at the Dr Albert Luthuli International Centre under the theme: Creating a safe, secure and clean maritime transport industry in Africa. The Government of South Africa provided excellent facilities for the conference and gave a warm reception to the all delegations.
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The conference was attended by 34 AU member States (19 of which came from the MOWCA sub-region of West and Central Africa) as well as 11 regional, continental and international organisations.

The conference was opened by Hon Sibuasiso NDEBELE, the Minister of Transport of the Republic of South Africa and chaired by the Hon Minister of Transport of Algeria.

The main objectives of the 5-day conference were:

The conference succeeded in realising all its objectives and in particular adopted the Maritime Charter, the revised Plan of Action and the Durban Declaration on Maritime Safety, Security. The conference adopted the MOWCA initiative on the integrated Coast guard network for Africa.

The Maritime Charter is now subject to signature, ratification, acceptance or approval by member States. The instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval are to be deposited with the Chairperson of the African Union.

The Charter comes into force 30 days after the deposit of the 15th instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

THE AFRICAN MARITIME TRANSPORT CHARTER AND AU MARITIME TRANSPORT PLAN OF ACTION

The key objective of the Charter,  adopted by the conference of AU Ministers responsible for Maritime Transport,  is to declare, articulate and implement harmonised maritime transport policies capable of promoting sustained growth and development of African merchant fleets, maritime infrastructure, protection of shippers interests, facilitation of transit transport, protection of the continent from maritime safety, security threats, and to foster closer cooperation among the member States of the same region and between the regions.

The program for the implementation of the Charter is contained in the AU Maritime Plan of Action 2009-2011 adopted at the conference.

The Charter is made up of a Preamble, 15 Chapters, and 52 Articles. The Key elements in the Charter are as ff:

Chapter I:        Definitions
Chapter II:       Scope of Application, Objectives and Principles of Cooperation.
Chapter III:      Institutional Framework for Coordination of Activities relating to Cooperation in Maritime Administration and Port Operations.
Chapter IV:      Cooperation of Shippers’ Organizations
Chapter V:       Cooperation in Maritime and Inland Water Transport
Chapter VI:      Cooperation between Landlocked States and Transit States
Chapter VII:     Development of Multimodal Transport and Port Development
Chapter VIII:    Enhancing Maritime Safety and Security
Chapter IX:      Protection of Marine Environment
Chapter X:       Information and Communication Technologies, Facilitation
Chapter XI:      Development of Maritime and Inland Waterways, Passenger Transport
Chapter XII:     Financing of Maritime and Inland Waterways Transport
Chapter XIII:    Human Resource Development
Chapter XIV:   Commitment of States Parties
Chapter XV:    Final Provisions

ADOPTION OF THE DURBAN DECLARATION ON MARITIME SAFETY AND SECURITY

The Secretary General of MOWCA presented a paper on the integrated Coastguard initiative for Africa:

The AU Conference of Ministers has reaffirmed its support for the coast guard network initiative and recommended it for adoption by other sub-regions of Africa. MOWCA and IMO has been tasked to work with the AU member States in realising the project for the whole of Africa

The Coast Guard Network is a MOWCA/IMO project aimed at providing the West and Central African sub-region / Gulf of Guinea with capacity for surveillance, enforcement and presence in the respective coastal waters, contiguous zones and the Exclusive Economic Zones in the face of increasing acts of piracy, armed robbery against ships, illegal fishing, oil theft, damage to oil and gas pipelines, drug trafficking, illegal migration, pollution and maritime accidents.  The member States of MOWCA has on July 30, 2008, adopted an MOU on the Coastguard Network, already signed by 14 out of 20 coastal member States of MOWCA.

The Representative of IMO presented a paper on the Djibouti Code of Conduct:

The Djibouti Code of Conduct is primarily for the promotion of cooperation among the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden States in the repression of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the area. particularly incidents off the coast of Somalia. The Djibouti Code of Conduct is an IMO sponsored code adopted by a sub-regional meeting on Maritime Security and armed robbery against ships held in Djibouti in January 2009 and participated by 17 out of 21 States in the Region. The code has to date been signed by 10 States and entered into force on 29 January 2009.