IMO

where seaborne cargoes are carried by another 20,000 coastal and inland vessels. Government has established the third sea port Payra at Patuakhali district situated in the southern middle part of Bangladesh. The container and cargo handling in Chittagong port has increased significantly, As a result, the Chittagong port has secured 86th position from its previous 90th position in world ranking. Thousands of ocean going ships call Bangladeshi ports in support of country's growing economy and seaborne trade every year. These activities indicate Bangladesh's involvement in the seaborhe trade and internationai shipping that justifies its candidature for a category'B' seat of the IMO council. SHIP RECYCLING TRADE AND INDUSTRY: Bangladesh operates one of the largest ship recycling trade and industry in the world, significantly relevant to Category 'B' policies and activities of the lMO. Bangladesh has been playing an important role in recycling the vessels of various nations that are no longer needed for service and thus contributing to a cleaner environment through conservation of energy and the minimisation of greenhouse gas emission. Bangladesh has taken various initiatives in implementation of Safe and environmentally sound ship recycling in cooperation with IMO technical cooperation programmes. Election to category 'B' would provide Bangladesh a better opportunity to promote the lM0's objectives of safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. lt shows Bangladesh's commitment towards reduction of emission as a climate change frontline State. SHIPPING FTEET OF BANGLADESH: Shipping ffeet of Bangladesh consists of about 1,000 inland ships over 500 GT,2t7 sea going fishing vessel, 40 ocean going sh,ips, about 8,313 coastal fishing boats and about 50,000 mechanized country boats where about 12 million people are associated with the profession of seafaring, fishing and river transport. Amongst them about 10,000 seafarers are certified for ocean going vessels. SEAFARERS OF BANGIADESH ; Traditionally Bangladesh is a seafaring nation and has a strong interest in it. A large number of Bangladeshi seafarers are serving, on board national and foreign flagged vessels. 2lt! a g t:  According to 2013 manning market statistics, Bangladesh has supplied 5,257 seafarers to the global market. SHIP BUILDING: Although Bangladesh has been traditionally building ships for domestic uses, the shipbuilding industry of the country has now become an export-oriented sector by receiving orders from East Asian and European countries for building ocean-going vessels. Bangladesh has already exported 42 ships to these countries. MARITIME EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Education and training of sea:farers and other personnel of the maritime industries receives a very high priority in the national agenda. Bangladesh Marine Academy, which is providing trraining to seafaring officers is a world class centre of excellence in the field of maritime education and training. This has been a branch of the World Maritime University as well. Bangladesh contributed to the overall management of the World Maritime University since its inception. National Maritime Institute {NMl), a public institute, imparts training of ratings for ocean going ship. There are also L8 private maritime training academieslinstitutes which provide training to about 1,000 cadets and ancillary courses to about 10,000 seafarers. Bangladesh also has maritime training institutes for seafaring fishermen, inland deck personnel and inland engineers. Following an inspection, the European Maritime Safety Agency reported that the activities put in place by the Maritime Administration and maritime training institutions in Bangladesh are in line with the STCW Convention. Bangladesh has now established the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University, lMo's ENGAG EM ENTS/ACT|V|T| ES tN BANGTADESH: In the field of transportation of passenger by non-conventional ferries, Bangladesh owns the largest fleet of the wor:ld. IMO has, therefore, selected Bangladesh as a pilot country for a ferry safety programme as a part of its MoU with the International Industry Organisation for Global Ferry Operation (INTERFf RRY). IMO COUNCIL MEMBER: Bangladesh is the only country representing the least developed economies to the IMO Council. She has been rendering her best efforts to rninimise the gap between developed and developing countries through consensus building initiatives, promoting mutual co- operation to keep the IMO instruments at an optimum level. 3lFng'r  Bangladesh served as a member of the IMO Council between L981 and 1987 and again has been serving since 20A2. lt has been maintaining its firm commitment to the goals and objectives of the Organisation, actively participating in its meetings. ln promoting maritime safety, security and the protection of the marine environment, it has also been working closely with various regional bodies like EU, Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), Indian Ocean Memorandum of Understanding On Port State Control (IOMOU) and other national and industry delegations. CONTRIBUTION TO THE IMO COMMITTEES AND IGOs: Bangladesh enjoyed the privilege of chairing its Technical Co-oper:ation Committee by one of its senior officer from 2000 to 2004 and had the honour of chairing various working groups, drafting groups and correspondence groups e.g. development of Assembly resolution and Guidelines on ship recycling, revision of the Fishing Vessel Safety Code and Volunteiry Guidelines, Follow up of the 1995 STCW Conference, Training of Maritime pilots etc. Given its commitment, Bangladesh has the honour to express the hope that the Governments of the IMO Member States will support the candidature of Bangladesh for re- election in category 'B' to the IMO Council for the 20I6-ZAL7 term. 4lllage AIDE MEMOIRE INTRODUCTION: Bangladesh is the 8th largest nation in the world in terms of population, and also as a littoral State situated on the vertex of the Bay of Bengal. lt has a coastline of approximately 71"0 km, and has the world longest natural sea beach on its coast. A significant aspect of Bangladesh's interest in maritime trading and transport activities are based on the fact that more than g5% of its international trade takes place by sea. Bangladesh ranks second in the world as a ready-made garments exporting country. Bangladesh is emerging as a ship building and exporting country. lts ship recycling industry is now ranks second in the world. As a country with vast population, Bangladesh has a huge trading and shipping market for consumer goods, most of which are transported by sea and has apparent interest in maritime trade and transport activities under category 'B'. RATIFICATION OF IMO CONVENTIONS: Bangladesh became an active member of the lM0 soon after its independence and is a party to most of the major lM0 conventions. Bangladesh has implemented Long Range ldentification and Tracking of Ship (LRIT), International Safety Management (lSM) code and International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code etc well in advance of the IMO deadlines. Bangladesh has taken early actions in implementing the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers (STCW), 2010 Manila amendment including framing national rules on STCW 20L0 in the year 2A1J. Bangladesh has also been taking keen interest in the activities of the international/UN specialised bodies such as the lMo, llo, wTo, wco, uNcTAD, EscAP, etc, on issues concerning the promotion & facilitation of balanced and accelerated maritime transport. Bangladesh has hitherto ratified and acceded to 27 of the IMO Conventions and Protocols. SEA PORTS & RIVER PORTS: Bangladesh has two sea ports and a wide network of more than two hundred river ports spread over 24,000 km of inland waterways, which support the national transport activities reaching country's sixty eight thousand villages. These also open windows of transhipment facilities for the ports of India and Myanmar, with which Bangladesh has its maritime boundary. Land locked countries lil<e Nepal, Bhutan and some lndian states can also be benefitted by using the sea ports and inland water ports in Bangladesh. Thus the hinterland of the country and its neighbouring countries to international shipping are connected, l l l'ir ;:. i: rtcteMEfr <f qqtcq'-t{trsl-d >tTq'ffi{q{qRqs{ )8)-)8e, {eRtn <l/q (u{ E{t), slol-)ooo Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh Tel : +88 02 9513305 DEPARTMENT OF SHIPPING Fax : +88 02 9587301 l4l-143, Motijheel C/A (8th Floor), Dhaka-1000 E-mail : [email protected] Web site :www.dos.gov.bd {E {sBt / nef No. s CNS/O02/IMO ELECTION/20151 q 8 slR{/Datee 2010912015 Estonian Maritime Administration Valge 4 11413 Tallinn Estonia RE.ELECTION OF BANGLADESH TO THE IMO COUNCIL Dear Sir, The Department of Shipping, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh presents its best compliments and would like to inform you that Bangladesh has declared its candidature for re-election to the Council uqder Category oB' of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to be held during the 29^ session of IMO Assembly in London, between 23 November and 2 December 2015. Please find attached herewith an aide-memoire outlining Bangladesh's contribution to intemational shipping and maritime safety, security and environmental protection. As a council member, Bangladesh has been an active participant and contributor at the IMO for promoting various maritime issues. I hope that the re-election of Bangladesh to the Council for the next biannual will enable Bangladesh to continue important contributions to the efforts of the international maritime community and provide valuable supports and cooperation in the fields of maritime safety, security and prevention of marine pollution from ships. I have the honour to request valuable support of the Government of Estonia as a friendly member state to re-elect Bangladesh to the Council under Category 'B' of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Yours sincerely, ffiO,l--Z* Commodore M Zakiur Rahman Bhuiyan, BSP, psc, BN Director General "ei;l!31r, FtJi,f{UD VEEIIIEDE AI|{ET ,//ed