Brussels, 11/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - DG Mobility and Transport will subsidise the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) this year until 2012, according to one of the European maritime security experts participating at the symposium on piracy organised on Thursday10 June by the Spanish Presidency of the EU. The contribution made by DG Mobility and Transport, which is part of the fight against piracy, will cover around a fifth of the bureau's annual budget. The bureau is in charge of fighting against all criminality at sea. The symposium brought together representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, as well as civilians and military personnel. It focused on the question of piracy off the Somali coast, where the EU is currently deploying its first CSDP maritime mission (EU NAVFOR Atalanta). The medium-term solution would, according to one of the representatives from the Commission, be to confer responsibility on the “at-risk coastal states” to police these zones, as is the case off the Malacca straits and Singapore, two other regions affected by piracy. In addition to its contribution to the budget of the IMB, the Commission is also planning to contribute to strengthening the capability of local maritime administrations and to participate financially in international initiatives in this domain (EUROPE 9989). Around €8 million from the critical maritime routes programme and the stability instrument is being used for the setting up of a regional training and archive centre in Djibouti and an information sharing centre at Sanaa (Yemen). Japan will provide particular help in funding the infrastructure of the two centres. The Commission has also provided the Atalanta operation (on the basis of bilateral agreements) access to LRIT information transmitting equipment (Long-Range Identification And Tracking) managed by the European Maritime Safety Agency on boats that transit the force's operation zone. More particularly, in the area of maritime transport, the current legislation in force (the regulation of March 2004 on strengthening port and ship security) requires operators flying the European flag to exercise international standards of security (the SOLAS Convention of the International Maritime Organisation and the International code of conduct on the security of ports and ships/ ISPS). DG MOVE has set up a committee that brings together member states and maritime operators in view of promoting best practices in the domain of maritime security, and in March 2010 the European Commission also adopted a recommendation on self protection and prevention against piracy and armed attacks against ships. (A.By./transl.fl)