(LONDON) — Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco of Panama has been elected as the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The appointment takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, for an initial term of four years.
The IMO Council voted to appoint Dominguez during its 129th session (C 129), which is meeting from July 17 to 21.
The decision of the council will be submitted to the IMO Assembly, which meets for its 33rd session from Nov. 27 to Dec. 6, for approval.
Dominguez has been director of IMO’s Marine Environment Division since January 2022. He joined the IMO secretariat in 2017, first as chief of staff to Secretary-General Kitack Lim, before being appointed in 2020 as director of the organization’s Administrative Division.
Dominguez was born in Panama. He graduated in 1988 with a bachelor of science degree from the Fermin Naudeu Institute in Panama. He went on to study naval architecture at the University of Veracruz, Mexico, graduating in 1995. Domiguez also holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Hull, and a certificate of higher education in international law and European politics from Birkbeck University, both in the United Kingdom.
His maritime career began in 1996 as a port engineer at Armadores del Caribe in Panama before moving to become a dry-dock assistant manager at Braswell Shipyard.
In 1998, Dominguez moved to London to join the Panama Maritime Authority as head of the Technical and Documentation Regional Office for Europe and North of Africa. He went on to represent Panama in a variety of roles at the organization, culminating in 2014 with his appointment as Panama’s ambassador and permanent representative to IMO until 2017.
Between 2014 and 2017, Dominguez chaired IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), and in 2015 he chaired the Technical Committee of the 25th session of the IMO Assembly. Prior to this, between 2010 and 2014, he chaired the Maritime Security – Piracy and Armed Robbery Working Group under the auspices of the organization’s Maritime Safety Committee.
– International Maritime Organization
