Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization visited the Observatory

10 March 2014

Mr Koji Sekimizu, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), visited the Observatory on 4 March 2014 as part of a Hong Kong Government sponsored visit programme. During the visit, he was introduced to the historical development of the Observatory and the important role it played in support of the maritime community and the city's evolution into a major port in the world.

Mr SHUN Chi-ming (left), Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, introducing to Mr Koji SEKIMIZU the history of the Hong Kong Observatory and the meteorological services provided to the maritime community in the past 130 years.

Mr Shun highlighted the recent effort of the Observatory in enhancing weather observation at sea in support of public and marine weather services, including the setting up of automatic weather stations on board the Observatory's Voluntary Observing Ships and international cooperation under the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Mr Sekimizu was most interested in WMO's new initiatives in studying the Arctic region, and recognizing the importance of weather observations and forecasts in support of global shipping, would further explore collaboration between IMO and WMO in promoting the deployment of automatic shipborne weather sensors and instruments for more frequent marine weather observation.

Mr SEKIMIZU (right) was shown the operational facilities at the Central Forecasting Office.

Mr SEKIMIZU (left) and Mr SHUN look forward to furthering the cooperation between IMO and WMO