Rationale
After having the Center of Emergency Mutual Aid in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden “EMARSGA” well established and fully operational, PERSGA is currently helping its member states to establish, rehabilitate or upgrade their own oil response centers. This is happening now in Djibouti, Sudan and Yemen. The Center in Djibouti, in particular that has been founded in 1990 by a direct initiative of IMO has been recently assessed by PERSGA and all major equipment has been found adequately operational. Work is underway now to establish a proper workshop in which the equipment could be stored and regularly maintained and to provide technical assistance to Djibouti in putting adequate human resources and legal tools in place. A national contingency planning workshop IMO standards was carried out in Djibouti during February 2010. This will establish the National Contingency Plan in Djibouti. Another national workshop was carried out in Sudan. Work with other member states that already have their contingency plans will involve response training and updating of the National Contingency Plans.

It is proposed that PERSGA in collaboration with IMO through the TC program would organize five more national contingency training workshops following the one in Djibouti in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with the objectives of updating national contingency plans, practical training on response in the case of emergency and evaluating the existing response facilities. The national workshops will take place at a rate of two workshops per year

 

Objectives of the meetings
The main objectives of the workshops are to:

• review and update the current national contingency plans in the region
• provide IMO level 2 /3 training to nationals at different levels of responsibility from the different agencies involved in response to oil and hazardous chemical spills   
• establish the practical basis for a regional contingency plan

Participants

The most suitable participants in this workshop will be government officials from different ministries responsible for conservation of the environment and human health in ports as well as other officers from the oil, chemicals and shipping industry and NGOs responsible for safe shipping and clean environment.The total expected number for this course is not to exceed 25 participants.
Date, Duration and Location
Duration of the courses is three working days each and will be conducted during January February 2012.workshops will be carried out at National Contingency Response Centers in the respective countries or other national facilities decided by the country.
Organizers:
The Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden PERSGA / EMARSGA
Language: 
The training language is mixed Arabic, French and English depending on the country.