Title of the workshop: 
Regional Workshop on “MARPOL 73/78 and the Ratification of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as Special Areas”.

Rationale
The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (RSGA) have been designated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as Special Areas under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ship 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto, known as MARPOL 73/78. The purpose of a Special Area is the prevention of pollution of the sea in these areas because of their particular sensitivity or other factors.  According to MARPOL 73/78 Annex I, Regulation 10(4)b, the discharge of any oil or oily mixture, or chemicals into the sea in a Special Area is prohibited; oil and oily mixture must be retained on board or discharged into reception facilities in ports.
The Red Sea was adopted by IMO as Special Area under Annexes I & V in 1973, entered into force in 1983 for Annex I and 1988 for Annex V; while the Gulf of Aden was adopted as Special Area under Annex I in 1987, entered into force in 1989. However, the designations of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as Special Areas under MARPOL are not yet effective.  This is because the States in the region have not yet been able to advise IMO that they have established adequate reception facilities for ships calling at their ports as required by MARPOL 73/78 for ports within Special Area. Also, some States bordering the RSGA have not yet become parties to MARPOL 73/78.
In view of the importance to the Region that the remaining States becoming parties to MARPOL 73/78, PERSGA has been helping to support this process. In 2005 PERSGA conducted a fact finding mission and technical workshop on the MARPOL 73/78 requirements in the region. The present workshop is another step forward in PERSGA’s efforts to determine adequate reception facilities needed in the region. The workshop will join specialists from PERSGA member States to discuss and exchange experience and identify the regional needs of adequate reception facilities and the most feasible manner to make these facilities available.

Objectives of the workshop
The main objective of the workshop is to discuss the difficulties facing the activation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as Special Areas under MARPOL 73/78; and to identify feasible mechanism to facilitate the activation.

The specific objectives of the workshop are to:
 Update information on existing reception facilities and ship traffic in the region through National Reports.
 Identify the need of additional reception facilities at a regional level.
 Identify the most feasible manner to have the additionally needed reception facilities available
 Identify other difficulties that might be facing countries that have not become parties to MARPOL73/78 convention yet
 Identify the best approach for applying to IMO to establish a date from which requirements that apply to ships when in the Special Area will become effective, offering much greater protection for the marine environment in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. 

Participants
For satisfactory achievement of the workshop’s objectives, participants must be experts and actual practitioners, managers or decision makers in the field of maritime and ports management. Together with the application form every nominee will be asked to provide and extended abstract of his / her country report on reception facilities and ship traffic in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden ports.

The total expected number for this course is not to exceed 20 participants.

Date and Duration
The duration of the course is three working days and will be conducted during November 2-4, 2009.

Location
PERSGA MEMAC Hurghada Egypt.

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

 Language 
The training language is English. However, translation to Arabic will be available.

Training Materials/References
MARPOL 73/78 and its amendments. PERSGA/IMO Fact Finding Mission Report (2005); National reports.

Training Sessions (Schedule)
Details to be provided at a later stage.

Instructors/Keynote speakers
Details to be provided at a later stage