Meeting of the Secretary General, Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) with the National Maritime Agency (NMA) of Angola held on 11th June, 2024 in Luanda, Angola
The Secretary General of the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), His Excellency, Dr. Paul Adalikwu, in the course of his visit to the Hon. Minister of Transport, Angola, met with the Director General of the National Maritime Agency of Angola.
During the meeting, far reaching discussions were met especially in areas of Maritime Security. It was resolved at the meeting that all ships must be registered and cabotage system implementation taken into account, establishment of Ship Owners Association in Angola to ascertain how many vessel owners are in the country as well as installation of VTS to find all ships in the area among others.
The SG MOWCA advocated the use of technology in checkmating piracy and other crimes at sea. This in his opinion is cost-effective considering the financial challenges and low budget faced by most countries.
Speaking further, Dr. Adalikwu proposed that Angola can have a small system that can coordinate with Nigeria to expand the view of their coast line and link up with Nigeria System to cover their waterways. He also suggested that Angola can borrow a leaf from Nigeria who enacted a law that specifically deals with the suppression of piracy and other maritime offenses (SPOMO ACT).
He pointed out that Cameroun and Togo have followed the same line and have specific laws that deal with maritime crimes. He further pledged to assist in getting inventory of all ship owners in Angola by setting up a meeting with ASLA, ASA and Angola while encouraging Angolan authorities to send seafarers to train at the Regional Academies of MOWCA which is open to all Member States.
The focal point of Angola while responding, informed the audience that Angola is at the verge of establishing the Regional Maritime Fund (RMF) and solicited for support on how to implement the system that has been adopted since 1999.
Similarly, the MOWCA SG promised to make available all relevant documents needed to set up the RMF policy and advised they study the documents while engaging with internal stakeholders which will advance the process.
Following Angolan’s financial contributions to MOWCA and resolving the discrepancies in the financial figures, it was recommended that all contributions from Angola be paid to MOWCA Dollar account to avoid currency fluctuations. Angola in this regard, promised to liaise with their Ministry of Transport and Finance on the payment of the differences caused by exchange rates and revert to MOWCA.
In conclusion, the SG MOWCA encouraged Angola to sign the Regional Maritime Development Bank (RMDB) charter to make the country eligible to send projects that need financing to MOWCA.
The Director General of the NMA in her response, said that the documents on the bank charter will be properly studied and presented to the hierarchy in the Ministry of Finance and Transportation for consideration.
Source : MOWCA
