On World Maritime Day, September 29th, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon highlighted the fact that as the world’s population continues to grow, particularly in developing countries, low-cost and efficient maritime transport has an essential role to play in growth and sustainable development.
UN officials also stressed the importance of shipping in global society and spoke of how it provides the backbone to a global economy, making the theme of this year’s World Maritime Day ‘Shipping: Indispensable to the World’ highly relevant.
Looking ahead to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Secretary-General said that the shipping industry will be critical for the achievement of the goals to achieve peace, planet prosperity and partnership.
The role of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was drawn upon, with emphasis on its ability to regulate the industry at a global scale and its potential to translate the momentum generated by the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change into tangible improvements in the lives of people.
Secretary-General Kitack Lim of the IMO stated that “Ships have never been so technically advanced, so sophisticated, never carried so much cargo, never been safer and never been so environment-friendly as they are today. It is thanks to this global fleet and global workforce of over one million seafarers that the import and export of goods on the scale necessary to sustain the modern world can take place. But, if the benefits of globalisation are to be evenly spread, all countries must be able to play a full and active part in shipping.”
He also spoke of the way in which sustainable economic growth, employment, prosperity, and stability can be enhanced through developing maritime trade, improving port infrastructure and efficiency, and promoting seafaring as a career – especially within the developing world.
“As the World Maritime Day theme for 2016 so rightly acknowledges, shipping is indispensable to the world – and is set to remain central to world economic growth as we make the inevitable transition towards an era of clean and sustainable development,” Secretary-General Kitack Lim concluded.
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