01 November 2011

Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General, International Maritime Organization (IMO) :

Mitropoulos is from Greece. He is the seventh Secretary-General of the IMO, the UN agency concerned with maritime safety and security and the prevention of marine pollution from ships. 

Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General, IMO
He had joined IMO in January 1979 as Implementation Officer in the Maritime Safety Division. In November 2003, Mitropoulos was elected Secretary-General for the period 2004 to 2008. In November 2006, the IMO Council decided to renew his mandate for another 4 years, concluding 31 December 2011. 

He would be remembered for superintending the adoption of a highly regressive International treaty on shipbreaking/recycling that threatens vulnerable migrant workers and fragile coastal environment of beaches in South Asia at the behest of shipping companies & ship owning countries. The treaty is likely to come into force in 2016. He has studied Shipping Economics. Consequently, he seems to have mastered the art of externalization of environmental & occupational health costs for the benefit of the affluent companies & countries.

Source: IMO Watch

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