Dierk Stegen from WFP (left) and IMO Secretary-General, Koji Sekimizu sign the joint commitment to a strategic partnership to combat piracy in the western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden area.LONDON – The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has signed a strategic counter-piracy building partnership agreements with various UN agencies and the EU, following a "Conference on Capacity Building to Counter Piracy off the Coast of Somalia" held at IMO headquarters in London recently. Strategic partnerships were signed with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the World Food Program (WFP). A further agreement with the European Union, acting through the European External Action Service (EEAS) was also signed. The joint commitments to combat piracy in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden Area reaffirm the mutual commitments to improving coordination at all levels and across all relevant programs and activities, with a view to strengthening the anti-piracy and maritime capacity of States in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden area and developing viable and sustainable alternatives to piracy in Somalia . The organizations have pledged to work together to deliver effective assistance to those states under the framework of existing institutional arrangements as well as under new joint enterprises. Projects may be undertaken multilaterally or in conjunction with other international organizations. In signing the partnership agreements, the organizations said their determination to make every effort to act in a coordinated and complementary manner in pursuit of common goals, with the aim of ensuring that their investments under the strategic partnerships make an effective and long-lasting contribution to capacity building in the region. IMO and the other international organizations have already been working with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the authorities of the Galmudug, Puntland, Somaliland regions of Somalia through the "Kampala Process" to promote an integrated approach to the development of a safe and secure maritime sector in Somalia. Specific projects are anticipated to be initiated or continued under the newly-signed partnerships. Each organization will complement IMO's competence in maritime situational awareness, and maritime security and counter-piracy measures. Michele Kuruc from FAO and IMO Secretary-General, Koji Sekimizu signed the joint undertaking to combat piracy and address illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in and off Somalia.
