Spain Chairs IMO Council and Focuses the Debate on International Maritime Transport

A Spanish delegation, led by the Secretary General for Air and Maritime Transport, Benito Núñez, and the Director General of the Merchant Navy, Ana Núñez, is participating this week in the 134th session of the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), chaired by Víctor Jiménez, Spain's Alternate Permanent Representative to the IMO.

The sessions began on Monday, July 7, at IMO headquarters in London, and will run through July 11, covering a wide range of issues of great importance for both national and international maritime transport.

Among the items on the Council’s agenda are the IMO budget for the next biennium (2026–2027), the improvement of the IMO Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS), the promotion of multilingualism, the audit plan for IMO member states, and the preparations for the 34th session of the IMO Assembly, to be held in November.

The Council will also address reports from the various IMO committees — Maritime Safety, Marine Environment Protection, Facilitation, Technical Cooperation, and Legal — as well as the report from the Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the 1972 London Convention.

Additionally, the sessions will review the work carried out by the IMO's global maritime training institutions, and address information on the protection of essential navigation routes, among other topics.

This will be the penultimate Council session before the election of its 40 members, scheduled for November during the 134th Assembly of the IMO, where Spain will again present its candidacy, seeking to renew its position on the Council within Category B — which includes the 10 IMO member states with the greatest interest in international maritime trade.