The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council has appointed Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco of the Republic of Panama as its next Secretary-General.
Valesco will start his tenure on 1 January 2024, subject to the IMO Assembly’s approval.
The decision was cast via a secret ballot carried out today as part of the 129th session of the Council of the IMO taking place from 17th to the 21st of July 2023.
Seven member states of the IMO had nominated candidates for the post of Secretary-General, as the term of the current incumbent, Kitack Lim of the Republic of Korea, is set to expire on December 31, 2023.
The seven nominees were Moin Uddin Ahmed of Bangladesh, Suat Hayri Aka of Turkey, Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco of Panama, Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry of Dominica, Nancy Karigithu of Kenya, Minna Kivimäki of Finland, and Zhang Xiaojie of China.
The new Secretary General of the IMO will have a massive responsibility in steering the industry forward, especially on the heels of the new targets agreed under the 2023 Strategy on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Shipping just over a week ago.
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