July 18 will be the day when the Council of the International Maritime Organization will meet to choose the next Secretary General who will take over the reins of the organization from January 2024.
There are seven candidates for the post of IMO Secretary General.
1. Arsenio Dominguez, Director, Marine Environment Division International Maritime Administration, World Maritime University.
2. Nancy W. Karigithu, Principal Secretary, State Department for Shipping and Maritime, Kenya
3. Moin Ahmed, Director General, IMSO (International Mobile Satellite Organization)
4. Suat Hayri Aka, Turkish Ambassador to ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization
5. Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia Henry, President World Maritime University
6. Minna Kivimäki, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Finland
7. Mr. Xiaojie Zhang, Director of the IMO Technical Cooperation Department
By mid-summer we will know who will be the next Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization. It is still too early to make any predictions but shipping officials are talking strongly about the candidacy of Arsenio Dominguez from Panama.
The Greek government has also publicly expressed its support for the Turkish candidate's candidacy as it seems to have come to an understanding with the Turkish side so that they in turn can win a vote for the Greek candidacy for the UN Security Council.
There is concern in Cyprus about this decision of the Greek government to support the Turkish candidate, which has already been locked in and finds opposite the Cypriot government which has declared that it does not support the Turkish candidacy.