The theme was chosen to focus on the critical link between shipping and global society and to raise awareness of the relevance of the role of International Maritime Organization (IMO) as the global regulatory body for international shipping. The importance of shipping to support and sustain today’s global society gives IMO’s work a significance that reaches far beyond the industry itself.

Did You Know?

• Today, international trade has evolved to the point where almost no nation can be fully self-sufficient.
• Every country is involved, at one level or another, in the process of selling what it produces and acquiring what it lacks: none can be dependent only on its domestic resources.
• Shipping has always provided the only really cost-effective method of bulk transport over any great distance, and the development of shipping and the establishment of a global system of trade are inextricably linked.
• According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), around 80 per cent of global trade by volume and over 70 per cent of global trade by value are carried by sea and are handled by ports worldwide.
• The 2016 World Maritime Day Parallel Event will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 4 to 6 November 2016.