• ICS Secretary General Guy Platten to address the UN General Assembly today on the role of trade and logistics in getting food and energy to all.
• ICS Secretary General will discuss the power of collaboration in moving forward to meet the challenges within the maritime industry.
• This briefing session, titled “Transforming political commitments into actions for sustainable recovery – Rebuilding a Sustainable Future for All” is organised by UNCTAD on behalf of the UN General Assembly Second Committee, which will inform the outcomes of the 77^th UN General Assembly meeting held in New York.

13 October 2022, London: Guy Platten, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) representing 80% of the world’s merchant fleet, will address the UN General Assembly Second Committee today on the role of shipping and the importance of trade and logistics in getting food and energy to all.

The Second Committee event, titled “Transforming political commitments into actions for sustainable recovery – Rebuilding a Sustainable Future for All” is organised by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The objective of the event is to gain a better understanding and awareness of trade and logistics issues in the current environment, as well as to increase understanding of policy options and UNCTAD and other solutions to supply chain challenges. The event will be live streamed here on Thursday 13 October at 1000 – 1300 (UTC -4).

The Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session, will be chaired by Her Excellency Lachezara Stoeva of Bulgaria.

Guy Platten, ICS Secretary General, commented:

“It is a great honour to be able to present today to the Second Committee the most critical issues to the maritime transport sector and I would like to thank UNCTAD for the opportunity. The role of shipping is vital to keeping trade moving and sometimes greatly underestimated. By having a resilient and sustainable value chain disruption can be minimised. Shipping moves 90% of global trade volumes worth some USD $14 trillion per annum and is an integral cog in the global supply chain.”

“At ICS we strongly believe in the power of collaboration. By having meaningful engagements with governments and intergovernmental bodies including the IMO, ILO, WTO, WHO, as well as of course, UNCTAD, we are able to collectively address issues of mutual interest impacting maritime transport.”

“The past few years have been challenging to say the least. COVID-19 was a Black Swan event with unparalleled repercussions and now with the continuing war in Ukraine the world continues to struggle. There are unquestionably challenges ahead, particularly as we endeavour to push forward on our decarbonisation journey but there are also opportunities and this is what we should focus on. History has shown that we are resilient and by working together we will strive to ensure that we continue to provide an effective, efficient and reliable maritime transport service to safeguard global food and energy security for all.”

Ends

Notes to editors

The event will be live streamed here on Thursday 13 October at 1000 – 1300 (UTC -4).