Message from Chair

January 2007

Greetings to all and best wishes for the New Year.

It has been a productive year for IAMU and many advances have been made toward our goals.

• It is my pleasure to welcome two new members: Batumi State Maritime Academy in Georgia and Jimei University in China. We hope you will become active participants in IAMU activities
• As noted in IMO MSC Committee circular IAMU should officially receive NGO status next year. This status will provide us with a stronger voice in IMO activities, especially as they relate to maritime education and training. Therefore it will be more important than ever that we work jointly to ensure that IAMU is recognized for the highest quality contributions to the international maritime community.
• We will continue to work on issues surrounding LNG and promoting the recognition that without some action, this industry will face a serious shortage of qualified officers over the next few years. A second Round Table was held in 2006 and a third Round Table is being considered for later this year to highlight this very serious issue.
• In October, President Wang Zuwen and his staff hosted the 7th Annual General Assembly of IAMU at Dalian Maritime University in Dalian, China. It was a very successful event and very enjoyable because of the welcome we received from our hosts at DMU. One of the highlights of the Assembly was a thought provoking speech of Mr. Sasakawa, Chairman of the Nippon Foundation and Honorary Chair of IAMU
• The first Presidents'/Rectors' conference was held immediately preceding AGA 7. This resulted in a statement of goals which will help to direct our course in the coming year.
• A first draft of the revised Basic Agreement was also prepared and presented. Later this winter more revisions will be made, taking into consideration suggestions and comments made by IAMU members
• This year we established an Integrated Working Group to address issues surrounding On Board Training.
• The Project System continues to provide members with very useful research and timely information on topics of interest. This year, five projects were approved for funding and we look forward to seeing the results at future meetings.
• The next Annual General Assembly will be held in Odessa and has tentatively been scheduled for the week of September 17, 2007.

We are grateful for your participation during the past year and hope that you will remain committed to the goals of the association in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Leonard Tyler
Chair, IAMU

May 2006