Office of the President of Malta, San Anton Palace, 1 December
During the courtesy visit of Dr Behnam (Honorary President) and A Vassallo (Managing Director), exchanges touched on the interdependencies of humankind, Ocean and Climate and the impacts of Climate change, as evidenced by changes in temperature and sea level rise, all of which affect the health of marine ecosystems, and eventually life on the planet. Dr Vella thanked Dr Behnam for his work along the years with the IOI, whose mission is to ensure the sustainability of the oceans as the “source of life”, and to uphold and expand the principle of the common heritage of mankind as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The IOI is grateful for the support of Malta to its mission and for hosting the IOI HQ locally over the decades since establishment in 1972.
Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade - Spinola Palace, 4 December
The Honorary President and the Managing Director of the IOI paid a courtesy visit to the Minister Borg; the importance of developing capacity in Ocean governance was discussed especially in the light of Malta’s recent presidency of the UN Security Council, where, amongst other topics, the issues of Climate, sea level rise and small island states were given prominence. The IOI is hosted in Malta under the Aegis of the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, in recognition of the important contribution of Arvid Pardo, Malta’s first Ambassador to the UN and IOI founder Elisabeth Mann Borgese to the process that would eventually culminate in the ratification and entry onto force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies (MEDAC), 3 November
Prof A Behnam and A Vassallo, Managing Director, IOI HQ, met Prof Stephen Calleya, Director (MEDAC) and Ms Lourdes Pullicino, Senior Associate Academic. Among the topics discussed was the importance of Ocean literacy as another tool in multilateral diplomacy and policy and decision making; and the potential of future collaborations between the two institutes. During this meeting, Prof Behnam was invited to deliver a lecture to MEDAC students on multilateral diplomacy and ocean governance on the 5th December. IOI and MEDAC look forward to more future collaboration.
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