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SECOND ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Second Session of the Joint FAO/ILO/IMO Working Group
on Fishermen's Training and Certification
(London, 12-16 January 1998)

1. At its 270th Session (November 1997), the Governing Body⁽¹⁾ authorized the holding of the Joint FAO/ILO/IMO Working Group on Fishermen's Training and Certification in London from 12 to 16 January 1998, with a composition of four representatives from the ILO (two Employer and two Worker), two representatives from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and two representatives from the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

2. The Joint Working Group met in London in January 1998, as agreed. It reviewed a draft revised Document for Guidance on Fishermen's Training and Certification, prepared by the FAO in order, inter alia, to bring it into line with the provisions of the IMO's International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel, 1995, so as to include a chapter concerning the functional approach to training and to reflect provisions of the FAO's Code of Conduct on Responsible Fisheries. The Working Group did not have sufficient time to complete the revision of the main body of the text or to review the 39 appendices from the original Document for Guidance.

3. The Joint Working Group agreed to invite the Committee and the appropriate bodies of the FAO and ILO to note the progress made at its First Session in the revision of the Document for Guidance on Fishermen's Training and Certification and to invite the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), in consultation with the appropriate bodies of the FAO and ILO, to agree to approve a Second Session, in the week preceding the Thirtieth Session of the IMO's Subcommittee on Standards of Training and Certification of Watchkeepers (STW30), for the purpose of finalizing the work.

4. At its Sixty-Ninth Session (11-20 May 1998), the MSC noted the progress made at the First Session of the Joint Working Group and approved, subject to the agreement of the FAO and ILO, the convening of a second session for the finalization of the work.

5. The Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body --

(a) take note of the progress of the First Session of the Joint FAO/ILO/IMO Working Group on Fishermen's Training (London, 12-16 January 1998);

(b) authorize the holding of a Second Session of the Joint FAO/ILO/IMO Working Group on Fishermen's Training, with a composition of four ILO participants (two Employer and two Worker representatives), two FAO participants and two IMO representatives, with the four ILO participants to be selected in consultation with the Employers' and Workers' groups of the Governing Body;

(c) request the Director-General to communicate its decision to the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.

Geneva, 7 October 1998.

Point for decision: Paragraph 5.

1. GB.270/STM/4/1, GB.270/11, paras. 29-33, Minutes of the Governing Body, 270th Session, fourth sitting.