New fund to improve navigational safety in Straits

The three littoral states, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed a Joint Technical Agreement (JTA) with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to institutionalize the Fund.

The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are one of the busiest waterways in the world, with about 100,000 ships passing through it annually. At least one third of the world’s trade and half of its oil pass through according to Singapore’s Transport Minister and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raymond Lim.

The institutionalizing of the Fund is in line with article 43 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which calls for cooperation among user states and coastal states in the maintenance of straits used for international navigation. A milestone in the implementation of UNCLOS was the establishment of the Cooperative Mechanism in 2007, which since then has been making progress via its three inter-connected organizations, the Cooperative Forum, the Straits Projects and the Aids to Navigation Fund.

The new fund builds on the Aids to Navigation Fund, which was an initiative launched two years ago. These two funds will go towards six current projects being undertaken including repair of navigational aids destroyed by the tsunami off Sumatra, measurement of wind and tide systems, and wreck removal.

The JTA was signed by the heads of the maritime administrations of the three littoral States and the Director of Maritime Safety Division of the IMO during the opening of the second Cooperative Forum hosted by Singapore.