Representatives of the Maritime Authorities of all the States-parties to the Memorandum – Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine tооk part in the 14th Committee Meeting of the Black Sea Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control. Mrs. Albena Lazarova, Deputy-minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications opened the Committee Meeting which was held in the period 9 – 11 April 2013 in Varna.
What was agreed was to review and amend the text of the Memorandum in relation to the Maritime Labour Convention and the new inspection regime entering into force. Bulgaria, Romania and the Memorandum Secretary were appointed to draft the amendments. The forms of the inspection reports have to be synchronized with the requirements of the Paris MoU, as in 2013, parallel to Paris and Tokyo MoUs, an inspection campaign will be carried out.
The long-standing practice of exchange of experience by the inspectors of the States-parties to the Memorandum will continue. Black Sea and Caspian countries have organized the first working meeting in Batumi. A second one is to take place in Bulgaria in mid 2013 with the aim to standardize the positions.
The 15th Committee Meeting of the Black Sea Memorandum will be held in 2014 (most probably in April) in Romania. Mr. Petar Kirov, Executive director of Executive Agency Maritime Administration, was appointed chairperson, and Mr. Andrian Siroja Mihey – deputy chairperson.
The Secretary of the Paris MoU on port State control – Mr. Schifferli, representatives of the Abuja MoU on Port State Control and observers from the Maritime Administration of Azerbaijan attended the meeting. |