A new Secretary General for the IMO
From July 17 to 21, 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) held a summit. The aim was to elect the new Secretary General. He will succeed Kitack Lim of the Republic of Korea whose term of office ends on December 31, 2023.
The current head of IMO’s Maritime Environmental Protection Division, Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco, was chosen. A native of the Republic of Panama, Arsenio Velasco is a former naval architect and the first Latin American to hold the post of IMO Secretary General.
The other candidates included Moin Uddin Ahmed of Bangladesh, Suat Hayri Aka of Turkey, Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry of Dominica, Nancy Karigithu of Kenya, Minna Kivimäki of Finland, and Zhang Xiaojie of China.
His election is an important milestone for the IMO. There is pressure to act on environmental policies. Indeed, carbon and greenhouse gas emissions are the main target of new policies. IMO is committed to reducing these emissions.
