Under the auspices of the Suez Canal Authority and organized by the League of Arab States and the Arab Academy for Science and Technology AASTMT
Launching the activities of an Arab mechanism study workshop to support the field of shipbuilding and repair.
The President of the Arab Academy participates in the activities of the Arab Mechanism Study Workshop to support the field of shipbuilding and repair
Lieutenant General Osama Rabie: The Suez Canal embodied the personality of the Arab world, its strategic importance and its location in the middle of the world
The activities of the League of Arab States workshop were launched to discuss the study of an Arab mechanism to support the manufacture, repair and construction of ships, sponsored by the Suez Canal Authority and organized by the League of Arab States and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, represented by the Faculty of International Transport and Logistics at the main headquarters in Alexandria, on Monday and Tuesday at the Maritime Training and Simulation Center of of the Authority in Ismailia.
The workshop comes within the framework of fruitful cooperation between the three parties, and in implementation of Resolution No. (516) issued by the Council of Arab Ministers of Transport at its (35) November 2022 session.
The workshop witnessed the distinguished participation of many active parties in the Arab maritime transport community, including ambassadors and representatives of transport ministries in 15 Arab countries, and representatives of the Union of Arab Chambers and companies specialized in the field of ship repair and maintenance at the Arab and national levels.
The activities of the opening session of the workshop began with a speech by Dr. Mustafa Rashid, Assistant President of the Academy for Arab Affairs and rapporteur of the workshop, who explained that the maritime transport industry has an important and strategic role for the Arab countries, being one of the labor-intensive industries, in addition to its significant role in promoting growth rates as estimated Total Arab investments in the field of shipbuilding during 2022 will be approximately $200 billion.
He added that the two-day workshop aims to review the vision and experiences of Arab countries, and Arab and national institutions and federations working in the shipbuilding and repair industry, with a focus on the most important future development plans.
For his part, Major General Reda Ismail, Head of the Maritime Transport Sector at the Ministry of Transport, conveyed the greetings of Lieutenant General Kamel Al-Wazir, Minister of Transport, pointing out that the main objective of the workshop is to study and see the experiences of Arab countries in the field of ship repair and construction industry and the most important development plans therein.
For his part, Dr. Bahgat Abul-Nasr, Director of the Economic Integration, Transport and Tourism Departments of the League of Arab States, emphasized the strategic importance of the Suez Canal, and the potential it possesses, which qualifies it to be a magnet for investments in the maritime transport sector.
In the same context, Dr. Ismail Abdel Ghaffar, President of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, stressed that the world has witnessed an important technological development in the field of shipbuilding, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, which the academy has realized and is working on with the need to include these modern technological fields in Egyptian and Arab universities.
At the end of the opening session, Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, welcomed the attendees and participants, stressing the pioneering position and strategic importance of the Suez Canal in the maritime community, which is an embodiment of the character of the Arab world, its strategic importance and its location in the middle of the world.
He added that holding the workshop coincided with the Suez Canal celebrations of the eighth anniversary of the opening of the new Suez Canal, a project that worked to enhance the capacity and number of the canal, and increase its capacity to receive giant ships with large drafts.
Lieutenant General Rabie stated that the Authority attaches great importance to strengthening mechanisms that will achieve the goals of sustainable development and environmental preservation in light of Egypt's 2030 strategy by studying the provision of incentives to ships that depend on liquefied natural gas, and examining ways to use renewable energy in operating pilotage stations and a number of units. Navy.
The Chairman of the Authority concluded his speech by presenting the developments of the project to develop the navigational course of the canal, which aims to double the area from kilometer 122 to kilometer 132, numbering a canal with a length of 10 km, in addition to expanding and deepening the southern region of the Suez Canal from kilometer 132 to kilometer 162, numbering a canal with a width 40 meters to the east, and a depth of 72 feet, stressing its importance in increasing navigational safety by 28%.
The workshop sessions began with a presentation of an overview of two Arabic studies to support the field of ship repair and construction, prepared by the Faculty of International Transport and Logistics at the Academy, and a study of establishing a database in the field of ship repair and construction in Arab countries prepared by the Integrated Solutions Company for Ports. The workshop aimed to explore the views and experiences of the Arab countries, in a way that contributes to supporting the two studies in the second phase of their preparation, in preparation for preparing the final report for presentation to the Council of Arab Ministers of Transport.
