Kenya Hosts Global Maritime Conference to Bolster Sector
By Harrison Kivisu
Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com
International Maritime Organisation member states have been challenged to embrace public private partnerships (PPP) in developing their maritime sectors in the face of low funding and reduced budgets for the maritime work.
This was the clarion call during the IMO’s Eastern and Southern Africa Knowledge Partnership workshop hosted from November 4 to 8, 2024 in Mombasa.
Kenya, through its maritime agency, Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) hosted the delegates drawn from 14 IMO member States from Africa – Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Africa, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
The meeting highlighted maritime technical cooperation activities and official development assistance.
The forum further provided a dynamic platform where representatives from diverse maritime and development sectors could exchange knowledge, align priorities and explore ways to mobilize resources effectively together.
“The maritime sector can propel a country’s economy.We need to work on improving and prioritizing budgets for maritime activities,” Youngso Kim, IMO’s director for technical cooperation division said.
The director noted that countries should explore customised national strategies and national maritime development plans that prioritise allocation of budgets to develop the maritime industry.
The official also noted that public private partnerships (PPPs) strategy was an important approach for countries to enhance growth of the maritime sectors.
Addressing participants, KMA’s acting director general Julius Koech said, “The gathering is not only a testament to our commitment to regional cooperation but also a reflection of the increasing significance of technical partnerships in addressing the unique challenges we face in maritime governance.”
During the forum, participants were familiarised with the IMO’s resource mobilisation strategy, a framework designed to enhance regional capacity to engage with donors, multilateral development banks and private sector partners.
Every country’s representative also made presentations on their maritime policies, development mechanisms, and investment priorities to enable participants identify synergies, determine new opportunities for collaboration and work together towards the achievement of common goals within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Koech, who also spoke to development partners said, “The technical and financial assistance you provide plays a crucial role in helping our countries address pressing maritime challenges, from enhancing port infrastructure to advancing maritime safety, security, maritime education and training and environmental protection.”
Presently, Kenya is implementing the Fourth Medium Term Plan (2023-2027) which will be the last Kenya Vision 2030 plan before the country transitions to the next long term development Plan.
The Medium-Term plan focusses achieving the bottom-up economic transformation agenda through the value chain approach.
It emphasises on production, value addition and market access and attracting local and foreign investments.
The Kenyan maritime sector is one of the key sectors of the blue economy and programmes and projects have been identified that will be implemented during the fourth medium term plan period.
These include, among others, Vijana Baharia Programme, Marine Pollution Project, Kenya National Shipping Line cargo capacity programme, Development of National Maritime Spatial Plan, Maritime Education and Training Development, Implementation of Bandari Maritime Academy Master Plan and Maritime Safety and Security Project.
