The IMO International Maritime Law InstituteThe IMO International Maritime Law Institute, the first of its kind anywhere in the world was officially opened on the 8th October 1988 by H.E. Dr Chandrika Prasad Srivastava, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation. The Institute which is located at the University Campus will host 20 student each academic year for post-graduate courses in Maritime Law. Students will be selected from different developing countries and fifty per cent of the places will be reserved for women candidates provided they have the necessary qualifications. Two other places are reserved annually for Maltese candidates. The Institute consists of 20 flatlets, offices and lecture rooms and will be run by the IMO which is a United Nations agency. In an opening address at a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister, Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, the Chief Justice and Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Dr Srivastava said that the IMO's Institute in Malta would fill in a long-felt gap in its training programme. He said that it will serve to train legal experts in the maritime field from developing countries. The Institute materialised after meetings between the Secretary General of the IMO and the then Parliamentary Secretary for Maritime Affairs Dr Joe Fenech. Dr Fenech proposed the idea which was then taken up by the IMO. On the morning of the inauguration of the Institute, the University of Malta honoured Dr Srivastava by conferring on him an Honoris Causa Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his total commitment to the enhancing of the safety of international shipping and the protection of the marine environment. On the 2nd October 1989 the Institute took on its first twenty lawyers from developing for its first academic session.
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