National Workshop, Bangladesh

At the invitation of the Department of Shipping of Bangladesh, the Director, José Maura, and Head of External Relations and Conference, Thomas Liebert, travelled to Dhaka on 28 June 2018 to deliver a one-day national workshop on the international liability and compensation regime and meet senior officials of the Ministry of Shipping, including the Honourable Abdus Samad, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping and Commodore Syed Ariful Islam, Director General of Shipping.
During the meeting with the Secretary and at the workshop itself, the Director emphasised the benefits for Bangladesh of ratifying the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions. He highlighted the importance of protecting its coastline and, in particular, the environmentally sensitive areas, including the Sundarbans which had been previously affected by the Southern Star 7 incident in 2014.
The workshop was well attended, with over 50 participants from the maritime authorities as well as other government agencies and interested stakeholders. The audience was very engaged with many questions and interventions which helped in clarifying the advantages for all who could potentially be affected by an incident.