IMO mission to visit Baku

An International Maritime Organization mission is expected to visit Baku next week to meet with officials from the Azerbaijan government, senior IMO consultant on sea contamination issues John Ostergaard told AssA-Irada Friday.

The parties will focus on preservation of the Caspian in emergencies, regional cooperation of the coastal nations and Azerbaijan’s alignment to international conventions, especially the covenant on oil spill response.

According to Mr. Ostergaard, of all the Caspian nations only Russia abides by the Convention on Maritime Freight Turnover Control. Moreover, he stressed the necessity of joining of the littoral states in the OPRC Convention. For this purpose, each Caspian state should have a governmental body to respond to oil spills. Joining the Convention is free of any charge, with the only precondition that a party should have a national response plan on offshore emergencies.

However, there is no government approved response plan on offshore oil spills in Azerbaijan, a source from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said Friday.*