During the 117th session of the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) the President of WMU, Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry and Vice Admiral Victor Emanuel Pomar Calderón, Director of the Dirección General de Capitanías y Puertos del Perú (DICAPI), signed the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the University and the Peruvian authorities that has been in place since 2000, WMU says in a press release. The arrangement agreed to under the MoU enables a significant number of Peruvian Navy Officers to undertake further education at WMU leading to a Masters of Science (MSc) degree in Maritime Affairs.
The new MoU extends the areas of collaboration between the parties and includes the following: the enrolment of Peruvian officers in WMU’s Masters and PhD programmes, the organization of field study visits and conferences in Peru, the conduct of research by WMU on behalf of the Peruvian government, tailor-made courses to support capacity-building and training, as well as professional development courses to be delivered in Peru and in Malmö.
The occasion provided the opportunity for the Director of the Dirección General de Capitanías y Puertos del Perú to inform representatives of IMO member States of the forthcoming Regional Alumni Conference entitled: Challenges and opportunities for the Sustainable Development of the Maritime and Port Sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be hosted by Peru in cooperation with the WMU and the International Maritime Institute (IMLI), from 18 to 20 September 2017 in Lima, Peru. The event will focus on the development of initiatives, strategies and alliances for the advancement of the maritime and port sectors in the region, highlighting the importance of postgraduate maritime and oceans education, research and capacity building for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Conference will be the first of its kind in the region and is aimed at identifying opportunities for networking and further promoting academic and business associations among different stakeholders of the maritime and port industries, international and regional organizations, maritime education institutions, potential fellowship providers and NGOs. The event is open to the global network of alumni of WMU and IMLI from the Americas and to the public.
President Doumbia-Henry congratulated Vice Admiral Pomar Calderón on the renewal and expanded scope of the MoU and acknowledged the strong commitment of the country towards WMU. She also thanked the government of Peru for accepting to host the first WMU Alumni Conference in the Americas. She highlighted the importance of Peru as a maritime country in the Latin American region with its geographical location providing interconnectivity for the maritime transport and global maritime trade.