Regional Expert Meeting on National Action Plans for the Implementation of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2016-2021) – Nov 08, 2016

    Regional Expert Meeting on National Action Plans for the Implementation of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2016-2021)

    The Regional Expert Meeting on National Action Plans for the Implementation of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2016-2021) was convened in Barcelona, Spain from 8 to 9 November 2016, pursuant to the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP)’s Programme of Work for 2016-2017 adopted by the Nineteenth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (“the Barcelona Convention”) and its Protocols, which was held in Athens, Greece from 9 to 12 February 2016.

    The Meeting, which was organised by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC), was co-financed by the Mediterranean Trust Fund (MTF) and the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP).

    The principal objective of the Meeting was to support the preparation of National Action Plans (NAPs) for the implementation of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2016-2021), hereinafter referred to as the Regional Strategy (2016-2021), which was adopted by the Nineteenth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols, according to a common template including national assessment, prior to onward transmission to the Twelfth Meeting of the Focal Points of REMPEC, to be tentatively held in Malta in May 2017, for their review and recommendations.  The Meeting was also an opportunity to present international, regional and national perspectives on NAPs for the implementation of the Regional Strategy (2016-2021).

    Considering the scope of the Meeting, all REMPEC OPRC and Prevention Focal Points were invited to attend the Meeting that gathered twenty-six (26) participants from eighteen (18) Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Libya, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, the Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia) in addition to the Secretariat (REMPEC) and the consultant.

    All participants actively contributed to the round table, which enabled them to present their national perspectives, and to the discussions held on the common approach for the preparation of NAPs for the implementation of the Regional Strategy (2016-2021) as well as to the practical session aimed at testing the use of the draft Guidance Document, including Common Template, List of Examples of National Actions and National Assessment Form.

    Amongst others, the Meeting welcomed the draft Guidance Document for the preparation of NAPs for the implementation of the Regional Strategy (2016-2021) and requested the Secretariat (REMPEC) to report to the Twelfth Meeting of the Focal Points of REMPEC on its successful outcome.

    The Conclusions and Recommendations adopted by the Meeting are available for download together with the meeting documents on REMPEC's event page.