New Delhi, Nov 30: India has been re-elected unopposed to the Council of the International Maritime Organization [IMO] under Category “B” at the 29th session of the Assembly of the IMO held in London on November 27.
The 29th Session of the IMO Assembly is being held at IMO Headquarters London from November 23 to December 2.
The Assembly session is attended by a high level Indian delegation led by Rajive Kumar, Secretary (Shipping), Dr. Alok Srivastava, Additional Secretary (Shipping), Deepak Shetty, Director General of Shipping and Anil Devli, CEO of the Indian National Shipowners Association and representative of the Indian Register of Shipping.
India’s overseas seaborne EXIM trade, which is presently about 600 million tonnes per annum, is expected to be quadrupled to about 2,200 million tons by the year 2020. In value terms, the commensurate figures thereof are in the region of US$ 900 billion and US$ 2100 billion respectively. India ranks amongst the top twenty ship owning countries of the world in terms of Gross Tonnage as well as Deadweight.
Indian Shipping tonnage has been growing steadily and it is about 10.38 Million GT now, with 1,210 ships under its flag for both the international voyages and coastal voyages. This supports India’s status as one of the countries with the largest interest in international seaborne trade.
India has been one of the earliest members of the IMO, having ratified its Convention and joined it as a member-state in the year 1959. India has had the privilege of being elected to and serving the Council of the IMO, ever since it started functioning, and till date, except for two years for the period 1983-1984.
