MOF to Hold the 35th Asia-Pacific Port State Control Committee Meeting

- 22 Asia-Pacific member countries to gather in Incheon to discuss current issues related to the safety inspection of international navigation vessels

 The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) announced that it will hold the 35th Asia-Pacific Port State Control Committee Meeting in Incheon from Monday, November 11, to Thursday, November 14. The meeting will discuss cooperation measures among the Asia-Pacific Port State Control Organization (Tokyo MOU) member countries regarding the safety of international navigation vessels calling at ports in the Asia-Pacific region.

 The Tokyo MOU is an intergovernmental consultative body established in 1994 to prevent marine accidents and marine pollution caused by vessels that do not meet international convention standards. Member countries take turns hosting the Port State Control Committee Meeting each year. Korea hosted the 6th meeting (Seoul) in 1998 and the 21st meeting (Busan) in 2011.

 The 35th Port State Control Committee meeting to be held this year will be attended by approximately 70 people from 22 member countries and 9 related international organizations and groups. They will discuss matters such as creation/revision of the Guidelines for Port State Control Inspection in the Asia-Pacific Region; matters related to technical cooperation such as education/training of port state control officers; and matters related to inspection of activities of member countries and port state control consultative bodies in other regions.

 MOF plans to submit three agenda items to this meeting—including expanding information sharing on ships that fall short of international agreement standards and improving specialized training courses for port state control officers—to lead in-depth discussions with member countries and establish a transparent, fair port state control system among member countries.

 “I hope this meeting will be an opportunity to resolve the gap in port state control inspections between countries and discuss effective measures to remove vessels that do not meet standards. In the future, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will do its best to create safe seas by implementing thorough port state control on foreign vessels and establishing and expanding bilateral cooperation between member countries to ensure the safety of Korean vessels calling at foreign ports,” said Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyung.