CÔTE D’IVOIRE: After nearly a year, the EU and Côte d’Ivoire signed a protocol that resumes their cooperation under the fisheries partnership agreement last week.

The WWF, together with a global coalition of scientists, civil society, governments, and tech innovators have launched a new platform that combines three decades of whale tracking data with information on overlapping marine threats and conservation solutions.

LIBERIA: South Korea is assessing three potential sites in Liberia for the establishment of ship demolition and recycling, shipbuilding and ship repair facilities after a high-level delegation from the Make Group visited the country last week.

Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea, Lesotho and South Africa were amongst the 18 countries that added their signature to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement yesterday as the United Nations Oceans Conference currently underway in France helped focus attention on the looming deadline to sign the agreement.

SEYCHELLES: In a move that underscores the Republic of Seychelles intentions to develop its ocean economy, the president, Wavel Ramkalawan, officially inaugurated the Eve Island Marine Fuelling Station on Praslin on Friday morning, marking a significant milestone in the enhancement of maritime infrastructure across the inner islands.

KENYA: A Korean delegation is assessing the maritime and shipping curricula as well as training programmes of two notable Kenyan institutions in order to rate them against global standards with the view to strengthening the country’s capacity to further develop their maritime sector.

Just over 70 percent of all African countries border the ocean, creating a 26,000 nm coastline and a 13 million km² of Exclusive Economic Zone (according to a report published by the Institute of Security Studies in 2021). As a continent, this may not be the longest coastline or largest EEZ, but Africa’s desire to capitalise the opportunities presented by the Blue Economy should be seen as a critical strategy to improve the continent’s economic and social outlook.