Director General Pakistan Maritime Security Agency Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar on Thursday said that PMSA has proposed Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain to become members of Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies Meeting (HACGAM).
"Their formal membership would be further processed as per HACGAM guidelines and rules of business," he said while addressing the 13th Working Level Meeting (WLM) of Asian Coast and Maritime Security Agencies (HACGAM) held at Karachi under the arrangements of PMSA from July 11-13, 2017.
He said, "PMSA along with HACGAM Secretariat has put forward the idea of bringing in more nations into the folds of HACGAM for making it a more effective and inclusive forum and enabling more representation of Asian countries, especially from Middle East and Gulf Region." He expressed his gratitude to all the delegates for their candid and positive contribution towards making the meeting in Pakistan highly successful and mutually rewarding.
As many as 40 dignitaries from Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE attended the meeting. All the delegates unanimously selected PMSA for Chairmanship for one year term.
HACGAM is a high level multilateral forum of Coast Guard and Maritime Security Agencies of Asian Region which hold this meeting every year to discuss common maritime issues such as Search and Rescue, Security, pollution and law enforcement at sea. Pakistan Maritime Security Agency became member of this prestigious organization in year 2006.
HACGAM aims at development of capabilities in Coast Guard and Maritime Security organizations for the whole region through cooperative engagements and discussions on overall maritime security and safety issues. Cooperation of HACGAM member States/ Organizations is important to promote safe and secure shipping in the region, as well as good order and law enforcement at sea.
The areas on which member organizations make cooperative efforts to deal with common challenges are Search and Rescue, Environmental Protection, dealing with natural disaster, Countermeasures against unlawful acts at sea to include piracy, armed robbery, terrorism, smuggling and illegal immigration, Capacity building and any other maritime issues of common interest. A High Level Meeting (HLM) to be attended by heads of Asian Coast Guards and Maritime Security Agencies is also scheduled to be held in Pakistan in October 2017.