REMPEC holds regional workshop

The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) has held a regional workshop in Malta on the implementation of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). This is the main international convention, adopted under the aegis of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), concerning prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships. It includes regulations aimed at preventing and minimizing pollution from ships - both accidental pollution and that from routine operations, and includes six technical Annexes.

The workshop’s main objective was the familiarization of senior government officials from Mediterranean countries with the MARPOL Convention.

Participants hailed from 18 Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. Together with Jordan, the last eight mentioned are also SafeMed beneficiaries.

Frederic Hebert, REMPEC Director, said that this regional workshop highlighted the complementarity between the EU-funded SafeMed II Project, being implemented by REMPEC, and the Centre’s programme of activities. “Most of SafeMed’s activities are within the scope of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention. In this respect, when possible, and in order to provide a holistic regional dimension, some project activities such as this workshop, were extended to other Contracting Parties that are not directly benefiting from the SafeMed Project,” said Mr Hebert.