The Workshop on Bilateral Cooperation in Oil Spill Response took place on 23-24 February 2017 at the ARSTM premises (Abidjan – Côte d’Ivoire).
The aim of the workshop was to provide information, knowledge and tools to facilitate cooperation between neighbor countries in WCA region in case of an oil spill. To this end, successful examples of regional agreements at the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea were shown, and the key elements of a bilateral agreement were presented and further discussed through working groups made by delegates from neighbor countries.
In addition, the GIS database tool that has been developed to compile and manage the information on available response equipment and resources in the priority countries of the project was presented. After the Workshop, focal points designated in each country will be given access to the database, for future usage.
Delegates from seven WCA countries participated in this workshop: NIMASA and NOSDRA (Nigeria), PAD (Cameroun), Direction de la Marine Marchande (Benin), Direction de l’Environment (Togo), CIAPOL and Direction Générale des Affaires Maritimes et Portuaires (Côte d’Ivoire), EPA and GMA (Ghana), Gambia Ports Authority (Gambia) and HASSMAR (Sénégal).