IMO Secretary General asked to consider digital meetings

In what has been described as “an extraordinary session of the International Maritime Organization (IMO)” the council asked Secretary General Kitack Lim to consider how the UN body’s meetings can be held online while the COVID-19 pandemic prevents physical meetings.

The move is in response to the fact that several meetings scheduled to be held at the IMO’s London headquarters over the past month have been postponed. Environmental groups have written to the UN body asking it to continue holding meetings in an online-only format to avoid allowing progress on emissions regulations to slow down.

The council meeting itself was held via correspondence, the IMO said in an emailed statement, which said: “The Council requested the Secretary-General to submit reports to a future session of the Council on: the establishment of a system that enables IMO staff to work remotely without affecting their productivity; and the possibility of holding meetings by teleconference, including the development of relevant procedures for such meetings, by the Council, and related budgetary implications, in view of the uncertainty of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

For more information visit www.imo.org

18th April 2020