Collective Action Updates | March 2018

Argentina

The UKFCO has agreed to sponsor continued training in Argentina to secure transparency and integrity in vessels inspections in Argentina. The funding will ensure that 40 company risk managers receive onsite training on how to prevent risks arising from the new regulatory framework. 100 companies will also receive practical educational materials about the new regulatory framework and how to minimize corruption risks during a vessel’s inspections. MACN is happy to have received this backing from the UKFCO in Argentina. Fernando Basch of Governance Latam is joining the MACN Spring meeting to provide additional updates.

Nigeria

An MACN letter has been delivered to the Vice President’s office to secure continued commitment to tackle the operational challenges at a senior government level, and to ensure that an adequate number of government officials will attend the integrity training arranged for mid-March. The final training of government officials is taking place in Lagos in mid-March and is arranged by our local partner Soji Apampa, the Nigerian Shippers Council, and the Nigerian Anti-Corruption agency, TUGAR. The correspondence with the Nigerian government is available on Onehub—Collective Action—Nigeria. In March, MACN will kick off the final session on training government officials.

Vietnam

MACN Program Director Cecilia participated in meetings in London with a Vietnamese delegation established to improve the business climate in Vietnam (the travel costs for the delegation were funded by the UKFCO). Representatives included officials from the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce. Cecilia presented on the trade barriers in Vietnam and this was well received.
Next steps: The MACN Secretariat is drafting a formal report to the delegation on the challenges seen in the ports and it will be shared with the membership before submission.

Suez Canal

Reminder: If you join the Suez Canal “Say No” campaign, please notify the MACN Secretariat (macn@bsr.org) so that we can follow up with companies in the campaign when we measure the impact of MACN’s activities.