Mr. Koji Sekimizu of Japan is the eighth Secretary-General of the
International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency concerned
with maritime safety and security and the prevention of marine
pollution from ships.
Biography
Koji Sekimizu was born on 3 December 1952 in Yokohama, Japan.
Academic Background
Educated
at the elementary and secondary school levels in Yokohama, one of the
biggest trade centres in Japan, hosting the Port of Yokohama, and the
shipbuilding and shipping industries.
In April 1971, he entered the shipbuilding course at the
Engineering Faculty of Osaka University. Studied marine engineering and
naval architecture, and in particular ship structure and vibration,
until March 1975 when he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in
engineering.
He further studied ship vibration theories at the graduate level at
Osaka University for two years and obtained a Master’s degree in
engineering with a thesis on “One method for vibration analysis of a
uniform beam with vibrating sub-structures” in March 1977.
Work Experience and Achievements
In
April 1977, he entered the Ministry of Transport of Japan (MOT) and was
immediately appointed as a Ship Inspector in the Nagasaki district
branch of Kyushu District Maritime Bureau. During his two years of
service for the Nagasaki branch, he inspected more than one hundred
ships for their designs and construction in initial, intermediate,
periodical and annual surveys covering a variety of ships from small
passenger ferries, fishing vessels, dry bulk carriers to VLCCs at
various shipbuilding yards in Nagasaki which was one of the busiest
shipbuilding centres in the world.
In April 1979, he moved to the headquarters of MOT. During the
short interval before his next transfer in July 1980, he acted as the
chief officer in charge of IMO regulations in the Safety Planning
Section of the Ship Bureau and drafted various proposals to IMO’s
technical sub-committees, including the proposal to the DE Sub-Committee
for manoeuvrability characteristics with Professor Kensaku Nomoto, who
was later appointed as a Professor at the World Maritime University.
In July 1980, he was transferred, under a special arrangement, to
the Shipbuilding Research Association of Japan to engage in his duties
to attend committees and sub-committees of IMO. While he was with the
Association, he attended more than fifteen meetings representing Japan
covering Assembly, the Maritime Safety Committee, the Marine Environment
Protection Committee and various sub-committees.
In April 1982, after gaining the experience of participation in
various IMO meetings, he was promoted to Deputy Director of the
Environment Division, MOT. One of the most notable achievements during
his service in this Division was to introduce the bill for modifying
relevant Japanese national laws in order to comply with the provisions
of MARPOL 73/78 and to help it toward passage. In this task, he was
responsible for the preparation of the bill to the National Diet. He
made every effort to explain the bill to the Diet members. After the
promulgation of the above law, he was also involved in the taskforce for
preparation of the Governmental Orders, and the Ministerial rules and
regulations for the implementation of MARPOL 73/78.
In April 1984, he temporarily moved to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and was appointed as Deputy Director, Second International
Organizations Division, Economic Affairs Bureau, in charge of OECD
related issues. During his service, he acted as the focal point
formulating the positions of the Japanese Government to Council Working
Party No.6 on Shipbuilding, the Maritime Transport Committee and the
Environment Committee of OECD. During his service in this Division, one
of his major achievements was the review of the Sector Understandings on
Export Credits for ships.
On his return to MOT in September1986, he was appointed Deputy
Director, Safety Standards Division, Maritime Technology and Safety
Bureau. In this position, he initiated and organized the establishment
of an Inter-Agency Task Force Group for the introduction of GMDSS and
conducted:
- Demonstration of the satellite EPIRB in Japan; and
- 1987 GMDSS Tokyo Seminar.
After this, he participated in the 1988 Conferences on GMDSS and
the Harmonized System of Survey and Certification, representing Japan.
On 2 July 1989, he joined IMO and was appointed as Technical
Officer in the Sub-Division for Technology, Maritime Safety Division of
IMO, with an assignment as the Secretary for the Sub-Committee on Fire
Protection. In 1992, when the Technology Section was established, he was
promoted to and appointed as Head of the Technology Section. After
this, he worked for the Maritime Safety Division until October 1997 when
he moved to the Marine Environment Division.
During the above-mentioned period, he performed the secretariat
functions to the MSC Working Group on SOLAS amendments dealing with new
fire protection measures for passenger ships proposed in the wake of
the Scandinavian Star incident and the MEPC/BCH Working Group on
Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships, which developed the framework of
MARPOL Annex VI adopted at the Marine Pollution Conference in 1997. In
his capacity as Head of the Technology Section, he arranged the:
- 1993 Torremolinos Conference, which adopted the 1993 Protocol to
the 1977 Torremolinos International Convention for the Safety of
Fishing Vessels;
- 1994 SOLAS Conference, which adopted new SOLAS Chapters IX
(management for the safe operation of ships), X (safety measures for
high-speed craft) and XI (special measures to enhance maritime safety);
and
- 1995 SOLAS Conference, which adopted amendments to the SOLAS Convention to enhance the safety of ro-ro passenger ships.
In October 1997, he was promoted to Senior Deputy Director of the
Marine Environment Division. He was then promoted further to and
appointed as Director of the Marine Environment Division in August 2000
and served as the Secretary of the Marine Environment Protection
Committee (MEPC) and the Administrative Secretary of
IMO/FAO/UNESCO-IOC/WMO/WHO/IAEA/UN/UNEP Joint Group of Experts on the
Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP).
In his capacity as Director of the Marine Environment Division
(MED), he led the Marine Environment Division in discharging its
responsibilities to support the work of:
- Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in dealing with
the phase-out schedule of the single-hull tankers and the Condition
Assessment Scheme proposed in the aftermath of the Erika (1999) and
Prestige (2002) incidents and handling a number of emerging new
environmental issues including harmful anti-fouling paints, ballast
water management, ship recycling, particularly sensitive sea areas
(PSSAs) and greenhouse gas emissions from ships;
- Consultative Meeting of the London Convention;
- GESAMP in dealing with the re-evaluation of hazards of chemicals, review and creation of the Strategic Plan for GESAMP; and
- Group of Experts on Impact Study for the proposals submitted in the aftermath of the Erika and Prestige incidents.
In October 2001, he served as Executive Secretary of the Diplomatic
Conference on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems for Ships.
His outstanding leadership led the Conference to a successful conclusion
and led the Convention to adoption.
In August 2002, he attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa, representing IMO.
During his tenure at MED, he conducted large scale environmental projects including:
- GEF/UNDP/IMO Global Ballast Water Management Programme;
- GEF/UNDP/IMO Regional Programme on Partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA); and
- GEF/WB/IMO Marine Electronic Highway (MEH) System in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
From 5 January 2004, he was appointed as Director of Maritime
Safety Division, and the Secretary of the Maritime Safety Committee
(MSC).
In his capacity as Director of the Maritime Safety Division
(MSD), he has shouldered and successfully performed the responsibilities
of MSD to support the work of:
- Maritime Safety Committee (MSC);
- Facilitation Committee (FAL);
- Sub-Committee on Bulk Liquids and Gases (BLG);
- Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR);
- Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment (DE);
- Sub-Committee on Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers (DSC);
- Sub-Committee on Fire Protection (FP);
- Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation (FSI);
- Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation (NAV);
- Sub-Committee on Stability, Load Lines and Fishing Vessel Safety (SLF); and
- Sub-Committee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STW).
As the Secretary of MSC, he has contributed to the activities of
IMO in preparation, adoption and implementation of international rules
and regulations including:
- Implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code;
- Development of the Long-Range Identification and Tracking of Ships (LRIT) system;
- Development of the Goal Based Standards; and
- The comprehensive review of the 1978 STCW Convention.
In the field of activities of IMO in the effort to protect vital shipping lanes, he has made major contributions to:
- The series of meetings in Jakarta (2005), Kuala Lumpur (2006)
and Singapore (2007) on the Straits of Malacca and Singapore: Enhancing
Safety, Security and Environmental Protection, which created the
Cooperative Mechanism established by the three littoral States; and
- The Sub-regional meeting to conclude agreements on maritime
security, piracy and armed robbery against ships for States from the
Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden areas which adopted the Djibouti
Code of Conduct.
He also represented IMO at the Contact Group on Piracy off the
Coast of Somalia and the Seoul High-level Meeting on Piracy off the
Coast of Somalia organized by the Republic of Korea in 2009. In June
2010, he served as Executive Secretary of the Conference of Parties to
the 1978 STCW Convention which adopted the Manila Amendments.
Personal Matters, Others
Mr. Sekimizu is married and has a daughter and a son, and one grandchild.
He plays golf and his interests include playing the guitar and composing songs.
He is a Member of the Japan Society of Naval Architects and
Ocean Engineers, and is a Councillor of “Kousi Zosen Kai”, the Alumni
Society of Naval Architects of Osaka University.
Publications
- The Marine Electronic
Highway in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore – An Innovative Project
for the Management of Highly Congested and Confined Waters (Tropical
Coasts, 2001)
- GESAMP and GMA – Constructing a New System for Evaluation of the Marine Environment (Ocean Policy Research Foundation, 2003)
- Marine Electronic Highway Project as a New Management System for Sea Areas (Nippon Foundation Library, 2004)
SUMBER : http://www.imo.org/MediaCentre/SecretaryGeneral/Pages/Default.aspx
