Representatives of Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) countries will hold their first regional piracy focal point meeting in Seychelles today and tomorrow.

The meeting is due to take place at the Seychelles Trading Commission’s conference room where the delegates will work on a five-year programme aimed at boosting maritime safety in the region.

Among the guests will be the IOC’s secretary general Jean-Claude de l’Estrac, Patrick Rakotondravao, an expert at the anti-piracy unit, Cecile Tassin-Pelzer who heads the IOC’s regional cooperation unit and representatives of the European Union.

Seychelles Minister for Home Affairs and Transport Joël Morgan – who also chairs our high level committee on piracy – is expected to open the meeting, paving the way for presentations by among others, Raj Mohabeer, who will talk on a regional strategy to promote maritime security, and the director of the anti-piracy unit of the IOC Jacques Belle who will also help coordinate the Maritime Security Programme.

Atmanand Kissoondoyal will lead talks on activities and key elements of the regional strategy against money laundering and efforts to trace illicit financial flows from piracy. 
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime representatives will talk on activities of the UNODC.

There will also be a report on the United Nations Political Office for Somalia’s activities.

Forrás: www.nation.sc