New Secretary-general Of IMO (International Maritime Organization) Will Be Selected By The End Of This Year

The term of Kitack Lim, the current Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, will end on 31 December 2023. Kitack Lim is the eighth Secretary-General of the IMO and has served the IMO since January 2016. He was renewed for a four-year term at the end of 2019.

The vote for the new Secretary-General will be held at the IMO headquarters in London on July 18, 2023, and the election results will be approved and announced at the 33rd IMO General Assembly to be held at the end of 2023.

The new Secretary-General will be elected among the following 7 candidates: Mr. Moin Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh), Mr. Suat Hayri Aka (Turkey), Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco (Panama), Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry (Dominica), Nancy Karigithu Mrs. (Kenya), Ms. Minna Kivimäki (Finland) and Mr. Zhang Xiaojie (China).

From 1 January 2024, one of the above candidates will serve as Secretary-General of the IMO. The new Secretary-General comes at a most critical time for the IMO, which is under intense pressure to decarbonise the shipping industry. The IMO will play a central role in driving the decarbonization of the shipping industry, using its global regulatory coverage to level the playing field for the industry. One of the challenges it faces is ensuring that developing countries achieve zero carbon emissions.