Message from IALA Secretary-General Francis Zachariae
As this second IALA e-Bulletin is ready for distribution to your in-box, the start of the annual round of IALA Committee meetings is imminent. ENAV20 and VTS43 will take place in quick session during the weeks of 13th and 20th March. This will also provide a meeting opportunity for the newly established informal group tasked with ensuring greater liaison between the Committees and cross-fertilisation of their work.
ENG6 then follows during the week of 27th March and ARM6 the last week of April. Both have a full agenda and will also continue their important work on reviewing existing documentation in order to achieve alignment with the new documents structure for IALA Standards, Recommendations and Guidelines.
The dedicated staff of our small IALA Secretariat stands ready to welcome both new and existing delegates and to serve the Committee meetings. Delegates will also benefit from the upgraded office environment where the installation of smart IT and video-conferencing facilities has been completed.
Also this month, a five-day Workshop on Sustainable Light and Power for the Next Generation (IALABATT/IALALITE) will take place in Koblenz, Germany. ENG put much work into its preparation and members interested to participate should contact the IALA Secretariat (contact@iala-aism.org) urgently for their registration as the event starts on 20th March.
Do enjoy reading our latest news, to which IALA and WWA staff all have contributed to keep members up to date on what is happening at Headquarters, our technical work, and training and capacity-building activities. I also draw your attention to the report kindly provided by Dr Nick Ward, Director of Research, General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland, on IALA’s on-going work for the European-Union funded EfficienSea2 e-navigation testbed project.
Meanwhile, I am pleased to confirm that the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, Mr Kitack Lim, and the Secretary-General of the International Hydrographic Organization, Captain Robert Ward, have agreed to address the first Pre-diplomatic Conference in Paris in April. Convened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, as IALA’s host country, the two-day Conference will serve to present the draft IALA Convention incorporating the Association’s change of status to an intergovernmental organization to government delegations of all the countries where IALA has National Members. Registration has been keen from around the world and I look forward to reporting on this exciting event for IALA’s future in due course.
