​Kenya set for maiden maritime conference

Kyoto – June 30, 2017

Earnest preparations for next year's 26th International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) conference will commence immediately to ensure its success as Kenya becomes the first African country to host the event. 

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Head of Corporate Development Mr. Martin Mutuku who was presented with the conference's flag during a colorful ceremony in Kyoto, Japan, sought to assure the delegates of the KPA's commitment as the main sponsor towards meeting their expectations.

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KPA's Head of Corporate Development Mr. Martin Mutuku, Lead scientific organiser Prof. Michael Dooms of VUB and KPA's Statistician Mr. Eric Katana after Prof. Masato Shinohara, Chairman of the just concluded IAME 25th Conference (extreme left) handed over the conference flag to KPA as the next host.

Mutuku who was recently co-opted as an IAME council member, said a high level committee comprising of academia, technocrats and professionals from the KPA, Trademark East Africa (TMEA), Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), the University of Nairobi, Belgium's Vrije Universities Brussels (VUB), Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Technical University of Mombasa and Moi University will work jointly and rigorously for the success of the event. 

Hundreds of top maritime brains from over 40 countries are expected to converge in Mombasa for the conference whose theme is "Sustainable maritime, Port and Logistics industries in emerging economies: towards a path of Blue Growth."

As the main local sponsor, the Authority is expected to offer logistical and administrative support, leading the marketing and communication efforts and assist in securing participation of major institutional parties.

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A section of the delegates applaud KPA's presentation during the closing ceremony of the 25th IAME Conference at a hotel in Kyoto, Japan.
KPA has in the recent past managed to host regional and international conferences including the Intermodal Africa Conference and International Investment Forum while Kenya was also the first African country to host the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in 2016.

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The lead scientist organiser, Prof. Michael Dooms shares with the delegates the expectations of the forthcoming Mombasa conference.

With the organisation of the IAME 2018 conference in Kenya, the Maritime Economists community, not only opens up for the African continent as a major vector of the future development within the broader field of transportation and logistics, but also towards other areas of application that can now be considered as an integral part of the blue economy.

Prof. Michael Dooms of the University of Brussels (VUB) in Belgium, who is the lead scientific organiser alongside a group of respected university scholars from Kenyan universities, said the event to be staged in Kenya intends to provide intellectual enriching topics on various levels between scholars, policy makers from both developed and emerging economies in the field of “Blue Growth.”