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In preparation for the organization of the Fourth Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), to be held from 4-8 May 2023 in Bali, Indonesia, the elected Officers of the meetings of the Parties met for the first time this year through a videoconference held on 27 January.

The Chairperson, Mr Nilanto Perbowo, from Indonesia called the meeting with the first Vice Chairperson, Mr Andres Arens, from Ecuador, and the other Vice Chairpersons, Ms Lucy Obungu, from Kenya, Mr Luke Bantock, from the United Kingdom, Ms Alex Cole, from the United States of America, Mr Andrew Wright, from New Zealand, and Mr Elhadi Etorjmani, from Libya, as well as the PSMA Secretariat. Each Officer represents a different region of the world, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the meetings of the Parties to the PSMA.

The meeting reviewed the outcomes of the Third Meeting of the Parties to the PSMA, and discussed plans  and milestones to be achieved during the course of 2022, including piloting of the PSMA global information exchange system (GIES), convening of technical meetings and regional coordination meetings, and delivery of  capacity development initiatives.

The PSMA Secretariat updated the Officers on the status of the pilot phase of the GIES, highlighting  the need for all Parties to designate a national contact point for the PSMA, which is a necessary step in order to be able to access and test the system. The Officers offered to facilitate the process of designation of contact points by Parties in their region.

The PSMA Secretariat informed the Officers that the following meetings are planned for 2022:

1. the third meeting of the PSMA Technical Working Group on Information Exchange;

2. the meeting of the PSMA Strategy Ad Hoc Working Group;

3. the fourth meeting of the Part 6 Working Group; and

4. regional coordination meetings for the regions of:

• Africa, Mediterranean and the Near East,
• Asia,
• Latin America and the Caribbean, and
• the Pacific.

Location and dates for these meetings are still to be determined and will be posted on the FAO website in due course.

Finally, the PSMA Secretariat informed the Officers of ongoing technical assistance provided to developing States under FAO’s Global Programme to support the implementation of the PSMA and complementary international instruments, regional mechanisms and tools to combat IUU fishing, which is available to support all official development assistance (ODA) eligible countries upon request.

Photo caption: (right) Mr Nilanto Perbowo, Chairperson of the Fourth Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on Port State Measures.