ABIDJAN PORT AUTHORITY AT THE CRESMAO OPEN DAYS

Activités portuaires Friday 19 January 2024

"Ten Years on, How Can the Private Sector Contribute to the Implementation of the Yaoundé Process?" This was the theme of the 2nd edition of the open days of the Centre Régional de Sécurité Maritime de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CRESMAO-regional maritime safety centre for West Africa), which took place on Wednesday 29 November 2023 at the CRRAE-UEMOA in Abidjan-Plateau. The event was sponsored by Mr. Robert Beugré MAMBÉ, Prime Minister, Minister for Sport and the Living Environment and Head of Government.

As a benchmark port in terms of port security, having been certified to ISPS code standards since 2004, the Abidjan Port made its presence known by setting up a stand and taking part in the various panels.

Held under the auspices of the ECOWAS Commission, the aim of the event was to raise awareness of the CRESMAO's activities in the field of maritime security, to take stock of the private sector's contribution to achieving the objectives of the Yaoundé Process, to identify challenges and to formulate operational recommendations for improving maritime security in West Africa.

In his speech, Commander Richard Maru Shammah, Director General of the CRESMAO, began by pointing out that piracy and lack of maritime security are a major concern for the states of the West African sub-region, both because they are a complicated regional insecurity situation and because they have a very high immediate economic cost.

To this end, he praised the coordination between countries, which had led to a significant reduction in attacks and incidents in the Gulf of Guinea over the last three years, with a number of cases falling from 68 in 2020 to 15 in 2022.

Lastly, the CRESMAO chief called on states to pool their efforts more effectively to combat risks of all kinds: maritime piracy, illegal exploitation of marine resources, crime, smuggling, illegal immigration, etc.

The representative of the Prime Minister, Mr. Abroulaye FOFANA, Permanent Secretary of the Interministerial Committee for State Action at Sea, paid tribute to the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, HEM. Alassane OUATTARA, for the strategic choices it had made for the development of the blue economy in our country and for its enlightened vision of the challenges facing this sector.

Mr. Abroulaye FOFANA went on to say that Côte d'Ivoire had for several years been firmly committed to all sub-regional and international initiatives aimed at reducing insecurity at sea and its harmful effects.

He also pointed out that, in the context of the implementation of the Yaoundé Process, Côte d'Ivoire had adopted a national strategy with the creation of the Permanent Secretariat of the Interministerial Committee for State Action at Sea, under the authority of the Prime Minister.

Created by decision of the Conference of Heads of State and Government on 31 July 2018, the CRESMAO is an important tool for the implementation of the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS) adopted on 29 March 2014.

Based in Abidjan and reporting to the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, the CRESMAO is responsible for information management and exchange, operational monitoring, crisis coordination, training and capacity building