Informal lunch meeting for Latin American and Caribbean States

On 18 December 2015, the Director of the IOPC Funds hosted an informal lunch meeting for the London-based representatives of States from Latin America and the Caribbean.
This informal meeting was well attended by representatives of 12 States from the region, both Member and non-Members, and provided an opportunity for those attending to ask questions and to exchange their views on various subjects such as the running of Funds’ meetings, oil reporting, the contributions system, incidents and claims handling and the status of the HNS Convention.
In a welcoming statement, the Director reminded those present that the organisation, which belongs to the Member States, can only operate effectively if those States contribute to its work and deliberations. He therefore encouraged Member States to participate in sessions of the governing bodies and suggested that non-Member States should consider applying for observer status with the 1992 Fund, to enable them to follow the discussions directly and learn more about the benefits of becoming a Member State. He pointed out that the IOPC Funds were available to assist States looking to join the 1992 Fund, citing the example of a workshop planned for March 2016 in new Member State, Nicaragua, to assist the authorities in implementing the Civil Liability and Fund Conventions.
Guests were reminded that Latin America and the Caribbean are high risk areas and as such, membership of the Fund and engagement with the organisation in general should be a priority for all States in the region. The Director finally provided some updates on the ongoing developments since the October 2015 meetings and reminded all delegates that the next meetings of the IOPC Funds governing bodies would take place during the week of 25 April 2016.