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The 13th Governing Council Meeting of the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC)

The 13th Governing Council Meeting of the ReCAAP ISC was held on 19 to 22 March 2019 in Singapore, hosted by the Singapore Government. The Council reviewed the activities of ReCAAP ISC in FY2018 and deliberated on its activities for FY2019 and beyond. On 22 March 2019, the Open Session was held with External Participants comprising representatives from three countries and 13 organisations.

The Council commended ReCAAP ISC on producing positive results in respect to its activities in FY2018 under the three pillars of its mission, i.e., information sharing, capacity building and cooperative arrangement.

The Council reviewed the progress of the implementation of the Roadmap for the Future of ReCAAP ISC and appreciated the continued progress as well as new initiatives ReCAAP ISC has made under the Roadmap as a Centre of Excellence for information sharing.

The Council encouraged ReCAAP ISC to continue its mission and mandate stipulated in the ReCAAP Agreement and its activities based on its Roadmap, by working together with the ReCAAP Contracting Parties, Focal Points, the maritime community and other stakeholders.

The Council appointed Mr. Masafumi Kuroki as the 5th Executive Director of ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre for a three-year term beginning 1 April 2019.

The Council reviewed and endorsed the Workplan and the Budget for FY2019 proposed by the Secretariat. A key focus of the Workplan for FY2019 is to further enhance the performance and competence of ReCAAP ISC and ReCAAP Focal Points. This includes the area of timely and accurate reporting and in-depth analysis of incidents, which can be achieved through the use of technology as well as through capacity building programmes. The Council underscored the importance of strengthening capacity building activities based on the Guidelines on Capacity Building Activities presented by ReCAAP ISC to the Council.

The Council discussed emerging maritime challenges such as cyber-threats and terrorism that may impact the situation of combating piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia. The Council encouraged ReCAAP ISC to continue raising awareness and to conduct further study on these issues for future discussion by the Council.

The Secretariat informed the Governing Council of the paper submitted by the Marshall Islands to the IMO following discussion at an informal working group regarding harmonised reporting of incidents of global piracy and armed robbery against ships. The Secretariat further explained the key concerns on the document submitted to IMO MSC for the discussion of MSC 101st session in June 2019. The Council agreed to consider the issue in their capitals, emphasising the incident reporting and response framework in Asia, which focuses on the role of Coastal States (as stated in the current IMO MSC Circulars 1333/Rev.1 and 1334) as an effective framework for combating piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia.

The Council emphasised the importance of regional and international cooperation in combating piracy and armed robbery against ships. The Council supported continued engagement of ReCAAP ISC with regional and international organisations, governmental agencies, shipping industry and research institutes under the pillar of Cooperative Arrangements. Finally, the Council encouraged the profiling and branding efforts of ReCAAP ISC.

The conferences to be organised by ReCAAP ISC in FY2019 are the ReCAAP ISC Piracy and Sea Robbery Conference on 9 April 2019 in Singapore and the 11th Nautical Forum in January 2020 in Singapore. The Capacity Building activities and bilateral visits for FY2019 are planned to be organised in Vietnam, India, Singapore, and elsewhere.

The Council recognised the importance of participation of all countries listed in Article 18(1) of the ReCAAP Agreement, and agreed to further promote operational engagement with those who have yet to sign and ratify the Agreement in order to collectively address these maritime challenges. The Council welcomed other countries considering membership of the ReCAAP.

The Council noted the presentation made by ReCAAP ISC on the situation of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia in 2018. There were 76 incidents (62 actual and 14 attempted) in 2018, which was a decrease of 25% compared to 2017. The Council also noted that the total number and the number of actual incidents in 2018 were the lowest since 2007 when the Centre started to collect information.

The Council commended the efforts of shipping industry for immediate reporting of incidents, efforts of Coastal States for quick response and the role of ReCAAP ISC for encouraging these collective efforts, which are producing positive results. In this regard, the Council emphasised the role of coastal States for receiving incident reports and giving quick response, as embodied in the IMO MSC Circulars 1333/Rev.1 and 1334.

The Council also noted that, despite improvement, there is no room for complacency in the fight against piracy and armed robbery against ships, and underscored the need for continued vigilance and cooperation among all stakeholders.

The Council recognised the efforts of the Philippine authorities and the neighbouring countries in addressing the situation of abduction of crew from ships transiting the Sulu-Celebes Seas. The number of incidents (actual and attempted) has decreased from 7 in 2017 to 3 in 2018. The Council urged continued vigilance in the area and instructed ReCAAP ISC to monitor the situation closely, issue timely warning and alerts when necessary, and to share the analysis of the situation.

The Council welcomed the voluntary contributions pledged/paid by ReCAAP Contracting Parties towards the work of the ReCAAP ISC for FY 2019 (1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020) as follows:

The financial contribution is in addition to the secondment of staff from China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Thailand, at ReCAAP ISC.

The 13th Governing Council Meeting concluded with a Presentation on the Situation in the Sulu-Celebes Seas, with speakers from the Philippine Coast Guard and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

The 14th Governing Council Meeting of the ReCAAP ISC is scheduled to be held in the week of 16 to 20 March 2020 in Singapore.


Source: ReCAAP

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