EXPERTS GROUP ON MARITIME SAFETY (CANADA)

1. The sixth meeting of the Experts Group on Maritime Safety was held on March 28^th 2000 in Singapore

2. Representatives of Australia, Canada, China, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Papaua New Guinea, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand met to address Maritime Safety concerns in the region in order to identify problems and propose recommendations for improvement.

3. The meeting was chaired by Canada.

4. Prior to addressing the various issues, the Group reviewed the report o f the fifth meeting held on November 9^th 1999 in Hong Kong.

5. In order to review prior work and familiarize the attendees of the mandate and objective of the group, the terms of reference and the analysis and summary of the questionnaire to address safety issues in the region (living document) were re-visited.

6. The Philippines advised the status of the other living document, "Regional Co-operation on Oil Spills Preparedness and Response Arrangements". A need was identified for review of plans for neighboring economies and further work was required to evaluate the current plans in place.

7. Members agreed that they would enter in the web site details of proposed oil spill seminars, exercises and conferences in order that other members could participate if appropriate.

8. At the fifth meeting, the group agreed that the Ministers responsible for Transport should be apprised of work that had been undertaken, ongoing initiatives, and work planned for the future. The meeting was advised that the Canadian Minister of Transport had recently written to his counterparts in the Region providing an interim report, advising details of the high priority safety list and proposed direction for the future work of the group.

9. The group had not had the opportunity to meet intersessionally as the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of IMO had not met recently. A meeting of MSC is scheduled for May 2000 and an intersessional meeting will be held at that time. The attendees agreed that these informal meetings are beneficial and will be held at future IMO Sessions. Intersessional work was also conducted efficiently by means of the EGMS email list server

10. The group agreed that links to other forums should be pursued, e.g. Tokyo MOU on Port State Control and IMO and exchange of information with other economies on technical submissions should be encouraged. Members were advised of ongoing meetings of the Tokyo MOU, Vina Del Mar MOU, Asia Pacific Heads of Maritime Safety Agencies Forum, the Quality Shipping Seminar and other lateral group meetings of neighboring economies.

11. The Republic of Korea provided an update on the project, "To identify optimum Maritime Administrative structures and the Legal Framework for Safer Shipping in the Asia Pacific Region". The project steering committee (Australia, Canada, China, Philippines and Korea) had worked intersessionally and evaluated the tenders, communicating with each other by electronic means. The contract was awarded to the Korea Maritime Institute based in Seoul, Korea. Work is expected to commence during April 2000 and a draft report is scheduled to be submitted to TPT WG 20.

12. Australia presented the final report of the project "Safer Shipping in the Asia Pacific Region - an integrated approach to developing appropriate regulatory and economic mechanisms to promote safer shipping in the Asia Pacific Region". The group was challenged as to direction for the future following completion of this phase, discussed ways to ensure the report received wide distribution and looked at ways the work could be continued.

13. Details of exchange of technical officers between member economies were discussed. The need for the continuance of this exchange was re-iterated and economies should be encouraged to give their support toward this.

14. Australia presented details of the "International Symposium on Safer Shipping in the APEC Region". This symposium has received project funding support and will be held in Sydney, Australia 5-7 March 2001. Canada and the Hong Kong Shipowners Association have offered to help organise the Symposium; other economies were requested to provide support and fincial assistance if possible. Facilitators, rapporteurs and speakers are to be identified and invited.

15. Australia presented details of the project proposal "Analysis of the economic benefits of the provision of hydrographic services in the APEC Region". The USA had previously agreed to co-sponsor this proposal, Malaysia and Korea also agreed to act as co-sponsors pending final approval from their administrations. The group supported this initiative and agreed to recommend to the Steering Committee that this proposal be given funding approval.

16. The Chairman of the SN&C Advisory Committee briefly addressed the meeting requesting maritime representation at the meetings of this Committee. The EGMS attendees agreed to provide details of contacts from their respective economies and to try and ensure that the SN&C Advisiry Committee received some marine input.

17. Following a review of the High Priority Safety List and Proposd Initiatives, the group identified the items they deemed to be of the highest priority and agreed to submit discussion papers or project proposals to the next session in order to enhance the work currently completed or ongoing.

18. A statement was made by Korea identifying their concern on the increase in piracy in the Region and gave details of a recent incident to a ship that carried Korean seafarers. The group noted that a conference was currently being held in Japan, that other seminars had recently been held and that a resolution had been issued by IMO. It was agreed that this issue should be brought to the attention of the Ministers responsible in the Region to highlight the concern of Maritime Safety officials and to support efforts to prevent these incidents and also be brought to the attention of the group that will be responsible for Security issues.

19. During the session, a presentation was given by the Executive Director of the Singapore Shipping Association.

1. Approve the Project Proposal "Analysis of the economic benefits of the provision of hydrographic services in the APEC Region" for funding approval.

2. Advise the Ministers responsible in the Region of the Group’s concern over the increase of Piracy.

3. If the Security Experts Group is formed, they should similarly be advised of the Piracy issue and to liase with EGMS on all maritime security issues.

4. Note that the project "To Identify Optimum Maritime Administrative Structures and the Legal Framework for Safer Shipping in the APEC Region" will commence in April 2000 and a draft report scheduled for submission to TPT WG 20.

5. Note that the APEC funded "International Symposium on Safer Shipping in the APEC Region" will be held in Sydney, Australia March 5-7 2001. Member ecoomies are urged to contribute toward the organization of the seminar and to encourage safety experts from their economy to attend.

6. Note that the Canadian Minister of Transport has recently written to his counterparts providing an interim report of the work of the group, proposing direction for future work and to advise that a more detailed report on the progress of the Experts Group on Maritime Safety will be submitted to the next APEC Transport Ministers meeting.

7. Note that an Intersessional meeting of the group will be held in May 2000 during the IMO Maritime Safety Committee meeting.

8. Note that marine representation is requested at sessions of the SN&C Advisory Committee.
   
9. Note that the final report of the project "Safer Shipping in the Asia Pacific Region – an integrated approach to developing appropriate regulatory and ecomic mechanisms to promote safer shipping in the Asia Pacific Region" has been approved and that the evaluation will be completed by June 30, 2000.

This page was last updated on 15 May 2000