The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has elected the following 40 states to be members of its Council for the 2020-2021 biennium sessions.
At the IMO Council election held in London on Friday, 10 states with the largest interest in providing international shipping services were elected into the Category (a), and they include China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States.
Category (b), comprises of another 10 states with the largest interest in international seaborne trade and they include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
While Category (c), is made up of 20 States not elected under (a) or (b) 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.
The Category C members include Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey.
The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the organization. Between sessions of the Assembly, the Council performs all the functions of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to Governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.
