Message from the IMO Secretary General

To ensure that shipping is as safe, secure, efficient and environment-friendly as it can be requires a truly global regulatory framework. Internationally applied measures adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) provide that framework, but implementing and enforcing these measures at the national level are complex and highly specialized tasks. They require special people, people with the highest possible level of relevant expertise and a deep knowledge of the subject matter.

Education holds the key. Established in 1983, under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization and in conjunction with the Government of Sweden and the City of Malmö, the World Maritime University (WMU) has developed into the world’s leading international institution for high-level maritime education and research. It not only provides the maritime world with an invaluable human resource, it also promotes the highest practicable standards in maritime transportation, policy and administration, management, safety, security and environment protection, and provides a mechanism for the international exchange and transfer of knowledge and its applications.

WMU has been particularly influential in helping developing countries play their full part in maritime affairs. Today, WMU has a global network of graduates who can be found serving in key positions in Government and throughout the maritime professions.

WMU has epitomized achievement and accomplishment for many years, the importance of which has been recognized by the UN General Assembly. I have every confidence that the University will continue to provide the high-level maritime education and research that has become its trademark and I wish its staff and graduates every success, both now and in the future.

Koji Sekimizu 
Secretary-General, International Maritime Organization