Happy smiles from Panama’s delegation as Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco (heart) learns he is bought the IMO Secretary General job. [Image: Panama Maritime Authority]
The IMO Council has appointed Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco of the Republic of Panama as IMO’s subsequent Secretary General. Subject to the approval of the IMO Assembly, he’ll serve for an preliminary four-year time period that begins January 1, 2024
A naval architect, Domínguez Velasco is the primary Panamanian and Latin American to be elected to the important thing place. He has greater than 25 years {of professional} expertise within the worldwide maritime world and could be seen as an IMO insider.
Before becoming a member of IMO in July 2017, he had had served on the Panama Maritime Authority since1998, the place his roles included that of Panama’s alternate consultant and technical adviser to IMO from 2004 to 2014. He is at present director of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Division, after beforehand serving as director of the Administrative Division and head of Cabinet and of the group. All that ought to equip him nicely for the upcoming battles over issues like carbon pricing that shall be sure as IMO strikes on from MEPC 80 to pursue its emissions reductions targets.
The President of the Republic of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, mentioned that, “as a maritime country, it is “an honor that Arsenio Domínguez has been elected as the new Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization – IMO. It is a historic day that fills us with great pride.”
Other nations with candidates for the Secretary General place included Turkey, Dominica, Kenya, Finland and China. According to Panamanian Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney, Dominguez Velasco’s victory is “the product of the team management of the Panamanian embassy in the United Kingdom, the embassy and Permanent Representative of Panama to the IMO, the candidacy team of the Directorate of International Organizations and Conferences of the Foreign Ministry and Foreign Ministry and the Panama Maritime Authority.”
