IMO officials have been prominent at the biennual Posidonia shipping industry trade fair which is taking place this week (6-10 June) in Athens, Greece. Secretary-General Kitack Lim joined Greece’s Prime Minister Tsipras at the formal opening of the event, where he spoke of how shipping is essential to the sustainable development and growth of the global economy and about IMO’s work to ensure that shipping itself reflects the increasingly higher expectations that society now has regarding safety standards and environmental performance.

Later in the week, he spoke at a working lunch at the Piraeus Maritime Club and at the Shipowners Forum organized by maritime media specialist Tradewinds.

Elsewhere, IMO’s Juvenal Shiundu gave an update on IMO’s work on environmental issues to a forum organized by the North American Marine Protection Association and the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, and participated in a conference entitled “Where is shipping heading after COP21”, organized by the Hellenic Marine Protection Association.