14 May 2009

Small island states plan central Pacific Shipping Commission

2:47 pm on 14 May 2009

A committee is to be set up to prepare for the establishment of the Central Pacific Shipping Commission which will accommodate the regulatory concerns and needs of Pacific small island states in the shipping sector.

The third SIS meeting of Ministers for Maritime Transport in Tonga has discussed the need to set-up a shipping commission for the central Pacific region similar to the Micronesian Shipping Commission that regulates the shipping sector in the north Pacific.

The Central Pacific Shipping Commission will be a sub-regional organization that will serve the shipping needs and interests of Nauru, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and Tuvalu.

This will be in the field of commercial shipping and surface transportation of commercial cargo to and from the ports of the four signatory nations.