Title of the course: 
Regional Workshop on the Review and Improvement of “The Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan”.

Rationale
The revised PERSGA/IMO “Action Plan for the Development of National Systems and Regional Mechanisms for Preparedness and Response to Major Marine Oil Spills in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden” June 2005, provides structured program of interventions to develop national plans and systems in countries that do not yet have these, and to establish a regional mechanism for achieving a coordinated response to any major spills. PERSGA has also assisted some countries to develop National Contingency Plans, and always pursues supporting member states to establish capable national systems.

PERSGA has established PERSGA-EMARSGA to enhance regional cooperation and coordination in the matter of pollution spill preparedness and response. As the PERSGA-EMARSGA is not a provider of oil spill combating equipment, such function is supposed to be appropriate to a regional network of national systems. Regular review and updating the Contingency Plans is necessary to cope with the rapid coastal development in and the ever-growing maritime activities in the region. Also, such regular meetings will assist in enhancing implementation through discussing impediments and find out possible way out mechanisms.

Objectives of the meeting

The workshop will discuss and review the status of contingency planning in the light of the Regional and National plans developed. This aims at enhancing implementation, identify gaps, and discuss proposals for development of new plans, in countries not having Contingency Plans yet, and updating of the existing ones, to be in consistent with the Regional Convention, Protocols and Action Plan requirements.

Participants
Participants of this workshop from the national officials responsible for combating oil pollution in emergencies, and implementing national contingency plans.

The total  number of participants is 24 .

Date and Duration

The duration of the course is two working days and will be conducted during June 23-24, 2009.

Location
PERSGA – EMARSGA, Hurgada, Egypt.

Organizers
The Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden – PERSGA.

Language 
The training language is Arabic.

Instructors/Keynote speakers

• Dr. Lindsay Page-Jones, Key Instructor, International Expert, (IMO Experts and Consultants.)
• Capt. M. Ismail, Regional Expert, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA).

 Attachments

Workshop program

List of participants

Photos