End of the work of the 41st Council of Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA)

Autres Thursday 07 April 2022

Following 4 days of work, the 41st Council and the 16th Round Table of the Managing Directors of PMAWCA closed on 3 December, at Best Western Plus Hotel of Douala, Cameroon.

Through the central theme: A digital Port as a Model of Port Efficiency, the member ports of this association made an assessment of the process of digital transformation in West and Central African ports. At the end of their reflection, they agreed to speed up that process and carry out the new international recommendations in port cyber security.

According to Mr. Cyrus NGO’O, Managing Director of the Port Authority of Douala, and Chairman of the 16th round table, the digitalization of port services is an opportunity to improve ports’ operational efficiency and attractiveness. “It’s then rightly that the core topic focused on digitalization in order to propose port agencies the relevant strategy to make their digital transition projects fully successful.” He noted.

Several decisions were made at the end of that meeting, among others:

• The holding of the 42nd Council on November 2022 in Luanda, Angola, upon the topic “The Role of Ports in the Fight against the Effects of Global Warming”;
• Renewal of the Executive Committee at the 42nd Council;
• Creation of a panel of experts from the member ports to address the problematics of the Association;
• Development of a Cruise tourism;
• Up-dating of the Association’s projects.

Note that the 41st Council was the one which had ever hosted 370 participants representing 19 countries and 25 ports, 17 regional and international organizations and several private business operators from transport and logistics sectors.