JAPAN's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA Japan) and Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), in cooperation with the ReCP Information Sharing Centre, teamed up to hold the third Capacity Building Executive Programme (CBEP) in Singapore that ran for one week until September 13.
Since the programme's launch in 2017, CBEP has become the region's flagship counter-piracy and sea robbery capacity building programme, with all 20 ReCP contracting parties as well as Indonesia and Malaysia having participated in previous events.
This year's edition saw senior officials and international experts address a broad spectrum of piracy and sea robbery issues including an update on piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia; the evolving situation in the Sulu-Celebes Seas; the situation in East and West Africa; the sharing of best practices and experiences of participating countries; the hostage convention and maritime cybersecurity.
The lectures were supplemented by in-depth discussions of case studies from regulatory/law-enforcement agencies from across the region. Furthermore, a dialogue session between regulatory/law enforcement agencies and the shipping industry were held to promote the exchange of views and mutual cooperation.
'Despite the recent trend of decreasing number of piracy incidents, new challenges such as terrorism and cyberattacks have been observed in the maritime domain. Japan is pleased to co-host the third programme with Singapore and the ReCP ISC, which aims to provide the participants with opportunities to enhance law enforcement capabilities in the efforts of counter-piracy and to learn how to address emerging threats,' said OFA director Hideki Yamaji.
'A distinguishing factor of ReCP ISC that has led to its success in reducing both the number and severity of incidents in Asia in recent years is the incident reporting and response framework attributing the primary role to the coastal states. The CBEP builds on this framework to enhance the effectiveness of the coastal states in addressing piracy and sea robbery in Asia,' said ReCP director Masafumi Kuroki.
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Since the programme's launch in 2017, CBEP has become the region's flagship counter-piracy and sea robbery capacity building programme, with all 20 ReCP contracting parties as well as Indonesia and Malaysia having participated in previous events.
This year's edition saw senior officials and international experts address a broad spectrum of piracy and sea robbery issues including an update on piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia; the evolving situation in the Sulu-Celebes Seas; the situation in East and West Africa; the sharing of best practices and experiences of participating countries; the hostage convention and maritime cybersecurity.
The lectures were supplemented by in-depth discussions of case studies from regulatory/law-enforcement agencies from across the region. Furthermore, a dialogue session between regulatory/law enforcement agencies and the shipping industry were held to promote the exchange of views and mutual cooperation.
'Despite the recent trend of decreasing number of piracy incidents, new challenges such as terrorism and cyberattacks have been observed in the maritime domain. Japan is pleased to co-host the third programme with Singapore and the ReCP ISC, which aims to provide the participants with opportunities to enhance law enforcement capabilities in the efforts of counter-piracy and to learn how to address emerging threats,' said OFA director Hideki Yamaji.
'A distinguishing factor of ReCP ISC that has led to its success in reducing both the number and severity of incidents in Asia in recent years is the incident reporting and response framework attributing the primary role to the coastal states. The CBEP builds on this framework to enhance the effectiveness of the coastal states in addressing piracy and sea robbery in Asia,' said ReCP director Masafumi Kuroki.
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