JICA supports promotion of maritime safety in Asia with partnership with MMEA

KUALA LUMPUR: The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in collaboration with Japan Coast Guard (JCG) and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), conducted Follow-up Program for JICA's training program in Japan: "Search and Rescue, Disaster Prevention and Environment Protection Course for Maritime Safety Officials at the Operational Level" during 27 Jan - 2 Feb, 2018, in Kuantan, Port Klang, and Kuala Lumpur.
The economy in Asian region has been steadily and robustly growing, and the region remains the global growth leader. In line with such high economic development in the region, the volume of maritime traffic increased significantly over the recent decades.
The region contains some of the busiest waterways in the world such as the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Singapore, and the South China Sea. These heavily-trafficked areas play a globally important role in transportation of energy resources, food, and industrial products. Among those transportations, the shipment of the crude oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) especially increased significantly in recent years. Once a large scale maritime incident occurs, it may involve a threat to the lives and/or oil spill from ships, which has a significant impact on not only marine environment but also economy of the coastal states as well as global maritime transportation itself. In order to prevent and minimize such loss of lives and impacts posed by the oil spill, the coastal states in Asian region must have adequate capacity in maritime Search and Rescue (SAR), maritime disaster prevention and marine environment protection.
With such background, JICA, with JCG, has been implementing "Search and Rescue, Disaster Prevention and Environment Protection Course for Maritime Safety Officials at the Operational Level" since 2011 in order to improve the knowledge and skills of maritime safety officials. Total of 105 maritime safety officials from 14 countries have participated in the program.
After the seven years of implementation of the training program, JICA and JCG organized this Follow-up Program for the ex-participants to achieve further enhancement of the ex-participants' knowledge and skills. Furthermore, it also aimed to review the impact of the program in Japan, to grasp specific situations and needs in target countries, and to reflect the points of improvement to the future program.
14 representing ex-participants joined the Program from 5 countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. During the 7-day Program, ex-participants were offered an opportunity for the on-board observation of MMEA-JCG Combined Exercise as well as special lectures by experts of International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF), MMEA and JCG. They also had a chance to be exposed to SAR and oil spill response structure and operation in Malaysia. In addition, during the workshop, they shared and learned from their good practices, challenges, and lessons obtained after the program in Japan. In the end, the Program was concluded with their visit to MMEA Headquarters and JICA Malaysia Office and the reporting on the Program was made there.
According to the ex-participants, the Follow-up Program enabled the ex-participants to refresh their knowledge and skills learned in Japan, provided new knowledge and skills, allowed them to discuss common issues and to learn from colleagues' experiences, and, more importantly, enhanced partnership among participating countries. Many of the ex-participants chose the observation of MMEA-JCG Combined Exercise as one of the most impressive experiences during the Program.
This time, most of the Program took place in Kuantan, especially at Academy Maritime Sultan Ahmad Shah (AMSAS), the training academy of MMEA. This was in line with the intention of Japanese Government to support Malaysian initiative to make AMSAS a Center of Excellence in the field of maritime safety and security in the region.
While taking the experience of this Follow-up Program into consideration, JICA will improve and continue offering the course on SAR, Disaster Prevention and Environment Protection to contribute to the better maritime safety in the region. MMEA and AMSAS will be among the most important partners in this endeavor.
Source : Japan International Cooperation Agency Malaysia Office (JICA)
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name : Yuka Sonoyama
Tel : +60-3-2166-8900
Email : ms_oso_rep@jica.go.jp — Bernama