The council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will be expanded from its current 40 members to 52, according to the amendments decided from IMO Assembly.
The expansion of the IMO Council would see 12 seats allocated to the first two following categories and 28 seats to the third one:
- States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services
- States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade each;
- States not elected under the 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.
Under the IMO Assembly’s amendments, council members would remain in their roles until the end of the next two consecutive regular sessions of the Assembly, after which they would be eligible for re-election. Since Assemblies are usually held every two years, this would generally mean that members would serve a four-year term.
“The adoption of the amendments to the IMO Convention is a major milestone in the reform of the Council. The expansion of the size of the Council to 52 will support the attainment of a representative, balanced, diverse, and efficient Council, that can support the interests of the whole membership and ensures the representation of all the major geographic areas of the world,” commented IMO Secretary-General, Kitack Lim.
