- Abbasi says maritime safety, security vital
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is fully committed to maintaining good order at sea and is always ready to cooperate on maritime issues of global concern.
These views were expressed by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday while addressing the inaugural session of the 13th meeting of Head of Coast Guard Agencies Meeting (HACGAM).
The prime minister said that the global dependence of economy through oceans has increased making safety and security of maritime resources and sea lines of communication more important.
Lauding the role of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), the Abbasi said that as the country’s sole maritime law enforcement agency, the PMSA’s role is vital and is mandated to enforce national and international laws, agreements and conventions in the maritime zone of Pakistan, adding that the government has equipped PMSA with potent sea-going platforms as well as aircraft fully functioning at coastal bases.
Abbasi said that the government is aware of the emerging maritime challenges, but there is a need to commit more resources to enhance its capacity to smoothly perform these tasks.
He said that the efforts included wide-ranging maritime initiatives, continued participation of command in multinational task forces of 150 and 151 and regular hosting of AMAN series of exercises, which were a clear manifestation of the government’s focus and attention on maritime affairs.
Abbasi said that the participation in maritime assistance, disaster relief efforts in Indonesia, Maldives and Sri Lanka and evacuation of foreign nationals from war-stricken areas of Yemen was a reflection of capabilities of Pakistan’s naval forces.
The HACGAM spearheaded by Japanese Maritime Guards has become a vibrant forum to synergise the efforts of Asian coast guard and maritime security and safety agencies, and provides a platform to enable its members to share experiences over wide-ranging maritime issues, the PM added.
He also complimented the Japanese Coast Guards for taking the lead in institutionalising this forum.
Abbasi said that the oceans have always been the highways for the world for prosperity and remained an unquestioned most economical medium for trade and transportation.
He mentioned that after 9/11, concerns for security has accentuated both for land as well as the sea. Due to greater interdependencies, the oceans’ disturbance in any part resulted in a ripple effect across the globe, adding that in the maritime domain, issues including terrorism, piracy, illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons, human trafficking, illegal fishing, environmental degradation of ocean ecosystem has become a concern for every state.
Abbasi said that the nations has come together by instituting various regimes and legal instruments to promote peaceful uses of seas, equitable and efficient usage of resources and preservation of marine environment, adding that these principles were also enshrined in the UN Convention of Law of the Seas which called upon all states and their law enforcement entities to act and operate in unison.
The prime minister said that in Pakistan’s case, more than 95 per cent of the trade was dependent on the sea, thus sea lines of communication remained a national lifeline.
He expressed confidence that all the organisations present at the meeting would cooperate to address maritime challenges and the deliberations made at the forum would be mutually beneficial in pursuit of the shared objective of maritime security.
