Arsenio Dominguez Velasco confirmed as next IMO Secretary-General
Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco has been confirmed as the next Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), according to IMO's release.
The IMO Assembly unanimously approved (30 November) the decision of the Council at its 129th session (C129) to appoint him to the role. Mr. Dominguez Velasco will take up the office of Secretary-General on 1 January 2024 for an initial term of four years, ending on 31 December 2027. He becomes the Organization's 10th elected Secretary-General.
The outgoing Secretary-General, Mr. Kitack Lim pledged to work with Mr. Dominguez Velasco to ensure an orderly and successful hand-over and, in what he called a "symbolic act of transition and succession", he handed a comprehensive briefing paper to Mr. Dominguez to assist him in his preparation for the role of Secretary-General.
Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco Mr. Arsenio Dominguez Velasco is currently Director of IMO's Marine Environment Division, a post he has held since January 2022. He joined the IMO Secretariat in 2017 as Chief of Staff to the Secretary-General, Kitack Lim. In 2020 he was appointed as Director of the Organization's Administrative Division. His maritime career began in 1996 as a port engineer at Armadores del Caribe in Panama, then becoming a Drydock Assistant Manager at Braswell Shipyard. In 1998 Mr. Dominguez Velasco moved to London to join the Panama Maritime Authority as Head of the Technical and Documentation Regional Office for Europe and North of Africa. He went on to represent Panama in a variety of roles at the organization, culminating in his appointment as Panama's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to IMO between 2014 and 2017. During this time, Mr. Dominguez Velasco chaired IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), and in 2015 he chaired the Technical Committee of the 25th session of the IMO Assembly. He has also chaired the Maritime Security – Piracy and Armed Robbery Working Group under the auspices of the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee. Mr. Dominguez Velasco was born in the Republic of Panama. He graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Fermin Naudeu Institute in Panama before going on to study Naval Architecture at the University of Veracruz, Mexico, from where he graduated in 1995. Mr. Dominguez Velasco also holds an MBA from the University of Hull, and a Certificate of Higher Education in International Law and European Politics from Birkbeck University, both in the United Kingdom
