GOVERNING COUNCIL MEETING OF THE REGIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT ON COMBATING PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY AGAINST SHIPS IN ASIA (ReCAAP) AT SINGAPORE FROM 01-03 MAR 11
1. The 5th Annual Meeting of the ReCAAP ISC Council was held from 01-03 Mar 11 at Singapore. Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, AVSM, Director General Indian Coast Guard attended the Governing Council Meeting. At the Fourth Annual Meeting of the ReCAAP ISC Governing Council held on 09-11 Mar 10 in Singapore, Governors from the fifteen ReCAAP countries commended the ReCAAP ISC on achieving further milestones in research and analysis, capacity building and engagement and co-operation with other organisations with an interest in combating piracy and armed robbery against ships. The Council welcomed Kingdom of Norway, which was represented by its Governor at the ReCAAP ISC Governing Council Meeting for the first time since becoming a member of the ReCAAP on 29 Aug 09.
2. The Council noted with appreciation the update from the Netherlands on the completion of its accession process to the ReCAAP. The Council welcomed the announcement that the Depository had received on 11 Mar 10 a formal notification from the Kingdom of Denmark of its intent to accede to the ReCAAP. This latest development highlights the growing strength of ReCAAP’s credibility and demonstrates the understanding that international cooperation is necessary to effectively deal with the problems of piracy and armed robbery. The council hoped that all countries listed in Article 18(1) of the ReCAAP that have yet to sign and ratify the Agreement would do so as soon as possible to collectively address the issue of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia. The council once again welcomed external participants to attend part of its deliberation including for the first time the Commonwealth of Australia.
3. The Council was pleased to note the release of the ReCAAP ISC’s third annual research report containing its findings on piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia in 09. In particular, the Council noted the finding that the piracy and armed robbery situation in Asia had stabilised in 09. The Council further noted that although there was a marginal year-on-year increase of 5% for the overall number of incidents, the number of actual incidents had in fact fallen from 83 in 08 to 81 in 09. The increase in overall incidents was attributed to an increase in unsuccessful outcome of the recent incident involving the tug boat Asta which demonstrated the significance of the ReCAAP network’s timely sharing of information with law enforcement agencies and shipping community, and good inter ministry cooperation among the governmental agencies within the respective countries that led to the rescue of the crew, the recovery of the hijacked vessel and arrest of the robbers.
4. In the area of capacity building, the Council welcomed the successful conduct of the third ReCAAP ISC capacity building activity held outside Singapore, co-hosted with the Philippines Coast Guard in Manila in Nov 09.
5. The Council reiterated its concern over the continuing piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. The Council commended the concretisation of the ReCAAP ISC’s Agreement of Cooperation with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in the form of the ReCAAP ISC’s contributions towards the implementation of the Djibouti Code of Conduct. This included the participation of representatives from Djibouti Code countries in a ReCAAP ISC familiarisation programme in Singapore, followed by the Manila capacity building workshop, in Nov 09.
6. Representatives from industry organisations who attended the meeting also expressed their support of the ReCAAP initiative and reiterated their desire to partner and collaborate with the ReCAAP ISC. On this note the council agreed to the signing of MoUs on Cooperation between the Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF) and the ReCAAP ISC, and between the Baltic and International Maritime council (BIMCO) and the ReCAAP ISC. The MoUs will record the mutual understanding on joint cooperation in the area of information exchange and mutual support among others.
7. The Council looked forward to a successful ReCAAP ISC Piracy and Sea Robbery conference 2010 to be co-organised with BIMCO, on 29 Apr 10 in Singapore, with main objective of engaging the shipping community. To this end, the Council was unanimous in urging ship masters to immediately report incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships to the relevant authority to enable a more effective response and encourage multi-channel reporting, as advocated by the IMO MSC Cir. 1333/1334.
8. The Council welcomed the voluntary contributions pledged by the ReCAAP Contracting Parties towards the work of the ReCAAP ISC as follows:-
Republic of Singapore - SGD 1,556,600
Japan - SGD 642,000
Republic of Korea - 100 million Korean won
Kingdom of Norway - USD 100,000
People’s Republic of China - USD 50,000
Republic of India - USD 50,000
This assistance is in addition to the secondment of staff from China, India the Republic of Korea, Japan and the Philippines
9. The Council expressed appreciation to the outgoing Executive Directo- Mr. Yoshiaki Ito, for successfully steering the ReCAAP ISC through its initial three years of operation. With effect from 01 Apr 10, Mr. Yoshihisa Endo will be appointed as the Executive Director of the ReCAAP ISC.
10. The Council reiterated the importance of the ReCAAP ISC being the conduit between the law enforcement agencies and the shipping agencies, called for greater cooperating among the like-minded agencies in suppressing piracy and armed robbery against ships, and having ReCAAP ISC to continue to work with the IMO in their efforts to implement the Djibouti Code of Conduct to suppress piracy in the Gulf of Aden/ Western Indian Ocean.
GOVERNING COUNCIL MEETING
DGICG WITH OUTGOING CHAIRPERSON
GOVERNING COUNCIL
GOVERNING COUNCIL WITH EXTERNAL PARTICIPANTS
© Indian Coast Guard, Ministry Of Defence, Government Of India
Coast Guard Headquarters, National Stadium Complex, New Delhi
1100 01