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Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe Region
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe region consists of 29 countries with economies in transition, 13 of which are land-locked nations, with coastlines facing the Adriatic, Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. Twenty three countries are IMO Member States.
 
Shipping has been one of the key stepping stones to the region’s economic growth and prosperity. Moreover, shipping and all related maritime industries are becoming an important source of employment and revenue. In recent years, growth in the world economy and international merchandise trade has fuelled demand for maritime transport services.
 
IMO has assisted countries in the region in strengthening their human and institutional capacities for maritime administration and such assistance (expertise and training) will continue to be provided.

Priority programme for 2012-2013  

The ITCP provides support to maritime development in the CIS and Eastern Europe region, which includes familiarization for maritime administrations and maritime training institutes on the requirements of the International Convention on Standars of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended (STCW 1978, as amended). Through capacity-building programmes, the ITCP gives special attention in the region to

  • ratifying and implementing IMO instruments and enacting national legislation to give full effect to IMO instruments; 
  • institutional capacity building by establishing and further strengthening maritime Administrations to enable them to effectively discharge their overall responsibilities as flag, port and coastal States;
  • Establishing effective Search and Rescue (SAR) services, and a safer and more secure environment for maritime-related industries;
  • strengthening Maritime Administrations’ capacity to prevent, control, combat and mitigate marine pollution; and
  • knowledge sharing through organizing training events for relevant personnel to help implement IMO instruments.

Human resources capacity-building 

As at the end of May 201277 students from the region had been trained at and graduated from the World Maritime University (WMU) since 1984, representing some 3% of the total number of WMU graduates worldwide and 50 had graduated from the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI), representing some 10% of the total number of students worldwide since 1989.
To address the human resources capacity-building issue, the region has, with IMO’s support, put in place a maritime training network which provides basic training, as specified in the 1978 STCW Convention, as amended. The region has some 87 maritime training centres located in 11 countries, all of which are Parties to the 1978 STCW Convention, as amended. These centres provide training facilities for seafarers from around the world. Thus, the region is a key labour supplier for the world fleet.

Partnerships with regional and/or national institutions 

Pursuant to Assembly resolution A.965(23) entitled “Development and improvement of partnership arrangements for technical co-operation”, which recognizes that technical co-operation is an essential part of the Organization’s work to achieve the ratification and implementation of IMO’s global standards, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution. The MoU increases mutual support for several environmental aspects of shipping, including oil pollution preparedness, ballast water management and dumping of waste at sea.

The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) in close co-operation with IMO assisted in drafting National Contingency Plans for several developing countries in the region. The Mediterranean Trust Fund and REMPEC have also provided financial support for the delivery of some ITCP activities.

These partnerships have not only provided valuable support for the delivery of ITCP activities, but also have promoted its effectiveness as they have increased general awareness of the IMO mandate and the ITCP, the ownership of the IMO technical assistance programmes by developing countries from the CIS and Eastern Europe region and the synergies between the capacity-building programmes of recipient and donor countries.
 

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