Focus on African Maritime Development

As part of its continuing efforts to help African countries improve the sustainability of their maritime sectors and their blue economies, International Maritime Organization (IMO) frequently works with partners to help support their initiatives.

This work includes participating in two major annual maritime security exercises in Africa, the first of which, Cutlass Express, is currently underway in Djibouti, Mozambique and the Seychelles (25 January – 7 February).

Cutlass Express puts special emphasis on encouraging navies and civilian agencies and different countries to work together, as envisaged in existing frameworks such as the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) and the Jeddah Amendment to the DCoC – a regional agreement against maritime crime in the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean area, which IMO helped to establish.

IMO is also taking part in a Senior Leaders Seminar, organized by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in the margins of Cutlass Express, in Maputo, Mozambique, in which heads of navies from the region are participating.

IMO emphasized the need for multi-agency, multi-disciplinary and whole of government approaches to maritime development within the context of the Codes of Conduct and how maritime security can underpin economic development and generate wider stability.