India has been re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organisation for the 2 Year Term, under a category that represents nations with the largest interests in international sea borne trade.
India was re-elected to the council under Category B at an assembly of the organisation at its headquarters in London. The Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Y.K. Sinha represented India at the assembly where India secured the second-highest number of votes (144) from member countries, just after Germany's 146 and ahead of Australia's 143.
The other countries to make the cut included France (140), Canada (138), Spain (137), Brazil (131), Sweden (129), the Netherlands (124) and the UAE (115).
The IMO Assembly has elected a new 40-member Council, its executive body responsible for supervising the work of the Organization. The Council performs all the functions of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to Governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.
The electoral campaign was tougher than usual as 46 countries presented their candidature. In category A, there was no contested election, but unusually in Category B Australia and the United Arab Emirates challenged the group making it 12 candidates for 10 seats. Both countries succeeded in getting a seat on the Council, and Argentina and Bangladesh lost their seats. In category C, the challengers Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia did not gain seats in the Council.
The Members for the 2018-2019 biennium are:
Category A (10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services):China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States.
Category B (10 States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade):Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates.
Category C (20 States not elected above, which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world): Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey.
The newly elected Council will meet, following the conclusion of the 30th Assembly, for its 119th session (on December 7) and will elect its Chair and Vice-Chair for the next biennium.
The IMO has 172 member states.
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