IALA’s 1st General Assembly: A Historic Milestone in Marine Aids to Navigation

The 1st General Assembly of the International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation (IALA) commenced with opening speeches from IALA President Marcos Almeida, Singapore’s Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Teo Chee Hean, as well as video messages from IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, IHO Secretary-General Mathias Jonas. IMSO Director General Laurent Parenté and IALA Secretary-General Francis Zachariae also took the floor.

The Assembly began by adopting the ‘Singapore Declaration’, a pivotal document reaffirming IALA’s mission to harmonize Marine Aids to Navigation (AtoN) worldwide while embodying its motto, “Successful Voyages, Sustainable Planet.”

GA01-l.4.2 (EN) Resolution on the declaration on IALADownload

Following general remarks from member states, the Assembly proceeded with the approved agenda and endorsed 13 key Resolutions presented in the meeting’s input papers.

New Leadership and Council Elections

The Assembly then proceeded to elect:

On 20 February, delegates witnessed the signing of three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for the World-Wide Academy, in collaboration with Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and France, along with an MoU for technical cooperation between IALA and the Republic of Korea.

Member States also elected the new IALA Council, filling 23 seats—please see the results below.

Results of the vote for Council electionDownload

1st Council Meeting and Future Roadmap

On 21 February, IALA’s newly formed Council convened for the first time, where it:

To conclude the event, delegates were invited to a technical visit to Raffles Lighthouse, providing a valuable insight into Singapore’s maritime infrastructure and AtoN operations.

📸 Check out a selection of photos from the event below!