Secretary-General of IMO welcomes new IOPC Funds Director

This week the new IOPC Funds Director, Mr Gaute Sivertsen, had his first meeting with International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General, Mr Kitack Lim, who congratulated Mr Sivertsen on his appointment and welcomed him to the IMO building, where the IOPC Funds offices are housed.

Whilst this is the first time the two organisation Heads have met since the IOPC Funds’ elections, they do in fact already have a history of working alongside one another, having both spent time as delegates to IOPC Funds meetings, representing Norway and the Republic of Korea respectively for many years. Their diplomatic missions brought them together again at meetings of the Governing Council of ReCAAP (the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia), in their respective capacities as Governor of Norway and Governor of Republic of Korea.

Mr Sivertsen now looks forward to working together with Mr Lim once again and hopes to build on the long-established relationship between the two organisations as both Secretariats strive to increase awareness and implementation of the international liability and compensation regime both for oil spills and incidents involving hazardous and noxious substances.