Coast guards from 16 Asian countries and Hong Kong will work closely to combat possible terror attacks at sea in the region, including information sharing, Japanese officials said Friday after two days of talks.
The meeting of about 90 senior coast guard officials in Tokyo, the first of its kind involving such a large number of Asian countries, was held amid growing fears that ships sailing in the region could be targets of attacks.
They also agreed to conduct joint drills in the foreseeable future, the official said.
The 16 Asian countries are Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China and Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Asia's main marine safety body said in March that it would issue warnings to ships trading in its waters that fail to comply with new stringent security measures, due to come into force globally on July 1 and designed to protect the industry against terror attacks.
The Tokyo MOU, a ship and port inspection body in the Asia-Pacific region, began issuing warning letters in April to ship owners whose vessels have not been certified to trade under new anti-terror measures hammered out in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
The International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS) is mandatory across the world and ships face being turned away from ports, effectively barring them from trading.
Comments
Comments are closed.