Seventy-four countries have now signed up to IMO's Ballast Water Management Convention, with Serbia being the latest to accede to the treaty helping to protect the marine environment. IMO says the signatories represent more than 75% of the world's merchant fleet tonnage. Under the treaty, ships are required to manage their ballast water, which can contain thousands of aquatic or marine microbes, plants and organisms, which are then carried across the globe.
Mrs. Vesna Vercon Ivic, Consul, Serbia Embassy to the United Kingdom, met IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim at IMO Headquarters, London (26 July) to deposit the instrument of accession.