The Maritime Administration, in collaboration with the Ministry responsible for Labour will be convening a national maritime stakeholders seminar at the Methodist Church Hall, Kingstown, from 9:00 am on Tuesday 27th April 2010.

Participants of the seminar will include members of the Maritime Commission and other social partners drawn from the Labour Department, shipowners, seafarers, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Employers’ Federation, the National Insurance Service and the National Labour Congress.

The opening ceremony will be addresses by Mr. David Robin, Director for Maritime Administration and by the Honourable René Baptiste, Minister with responsibility for Labour.

The seminar will consider the implications of and requirements for implementing International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Maritime organization (IMO) instruments which are of significance to the maritime economic interests of the stakeholders and to St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a whole.  The seminar is also a follow-up to the ILO Hemispheric Conference on rapid and widespread ratification and effective implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, was held at the Holiday Inn, St. Michael, Barbados, 7–10 September 2009.  Specifically, the seminar will consider:

• Three ILO maritime conventions dealing with decent work, namely:
o The International Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006);
o Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (C185);
o Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (C188); and,
• The Voluntary IMO Member States Audit Scheme (VIMSAS) and associated IMO Conventions and Codes.

The objectives of the seminar are to:

• deepen the understanding of participants about VIMSAS and about the ILO Conventions on decent work in the maritime industry, in the light of existing law and practice;
• agree on broad timelines and activities towards the process of ratification and implementation of ILO Conventions on decent work in the maritime industry including strengthening of national tripartite consultations through the establishment of national shipowners and seafarers organizations; and,
• agree broad timelines and activities for SVG participation in VIMSAS.

Address

Ministry of National Security,
Melville Street,
Kingstown, Saint Vincent

Telephone

(784) 457-1426
PBX
(784) 456-1111
Ext.
4741
Email
office.natsec@mail.gov.vc