<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization has elected the following States to be Members of its Council for the 2016-2017 biennium:
Category (a) 10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services:  </span>China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><a href="http://myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/IMO-Assembly-2015.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1175" src="http://myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/IMO-Assembly-2015.jpg" alt="IMO Assembly 2015" width="800" height="534" /></a></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Category (b) 10 States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade:  </span>Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Category (c) 20 States not elected under (a) or (b) above, which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world:  </span>Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"> </span><b>Council</b></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the Organization.  Between sessions of the Assembly, the Council performs all the functions of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to Governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The newly elected Council will meet, following the conclusion of the 29th Assembly, for its 115th session (on 3 December) and will elect its Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the next biennium.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>IMO Assembly </b></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The 29th Assembly of IMO is meeting in London at IMO Headquarters from 23 November to 2 December 2015. All 171 Member States and three Associate Members are entitled to attend the Assembly, which is IMO’s highest governing body. The intergovernmental organizations with which agreements of co-operation have been concluded and international non-governmental organizations in consultative status with IMO are also invited to attend.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Assembly normally meets once every two years in regular session. It is responsible for approving the work programme, voting the budget and determining the financial arrangements of the Organization. It also elects the Organization’s 40-Member Council.</span></p>