Arsenio From Panama Elected As Secretary General Of IMO, Indonesia Welcomes Good

Director General of Sea Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation Arif Toha (right) together with Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government welcomes the election of Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco from the Republic of Panama as Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the new period January 1, 2024-31 December 2028.

The election of the new Secretary General of IMO was held at the 129th IMO Council session in London, England, Tuesday.

Director General of Sea Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation Arif Toha, who was the Indonesian delegation at the 129th IMO Council session, revealed that the selection process for the Secretary General of the IMO went tight and smoothly and took place in four rounds.

As many as 40 council member states (council) IMO cast voting rights for six candidates for the Secretary General of the IMO and in the final round there were three candidates won by Arsenio of the Republic of Panama with 21 votes out of a total of 40 votes.

"With 21 votes, Mr. Arsenio of Panama was elected Secretary General of the IMO starting January 1, 2024. Thus, Mr. Arsenio will replace the Secretary General of IMO Mr. Kitack Lim, who will end his term of office on December 31, 2023," Arif said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 19.

He said that with the election of Arsenio as Secretary General of the IMO, of course the Government of Indonesia as a member of the IMO Council is committed to continuing to provide full support to the IMO for improving world shipping safety and security as well as protecting the maritime environment.

"Indonesia welcomes the election of Mr. Arsenio from Panama. Apart from having a close cooperation in the sea transportation sector between Indonesia and Panama, Arsenio is also a figure who has long played an active role in this International Maritime Organization. We are sure, Arsenio will bring IMO to be even better in the future," said Arif.

Arsenio will be officially confirmed at the IMO Assembly session in November 2023 which will be attended by 173 IMO member states.

The Ministry of Transportation cq of the Directorate General of Sea Transportation is in charge of implementing government activities and administration or maritime administration at International Maritime Organizations in the shipping sector (IMO) as stipulated in Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 23 of 2022 concerning the Ministry of Transportation.

Currently, Indonesia is running again as a member of the IMO Council Category C for the 2023-2024 period whose election will be held at the IMO Assembly session in November 2023.

To garner vote support, Indonesia carried out a number of activities at the 129th IMO Council session in London which was still taking place on July 17-21 July 2023, such as holding a coffee break for members of the IMO Council, side event by holding bilateral meetings and holding a lunch receipt at the IMO Building, London.

Present to lead the Indonesian delegation at the 129th IMO Council session, namely the Indonesian Ambassador to the UK concurrently Ireland and the International Maritime Organization Desra Believe, Director General of Sea Transportation Arif Toha, Director of Traffic and Sea Transportation Capt Hendri Ginting, representatives of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs RB, Bureau of Indonesian Classification, Indonesian Embassy in London and also the Indonesian Transportation Attache in London.