The Liberian Registry participated in the International Sanctions Implementation & Enforcement Africa Regional Workshop facilitated by Sandia National Laboratories and held in Johannesburg, South Africa this July. The Workshop offered two parallel courses, one focusing on enforcement and implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on North Korea, and the other on Strengthening Ship Registries.
The Liberian delegation was headed by the Deputy Minister for Legal/Corporate Registrar, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Liberia, Cllr. Deweh Gray and included the Deputy Commissioner for Maritime Operations and Deputy Corporate Registrar, Margaret Ansumana, the Compliance and Legal Manager of LISCR, Irina Nossova, and the Director of Domestic Small Watercraft Agency, Anthony Twee. Their presentations and subsequent discussions outlined the Registry’s compliance culture, which has long been the mainstay of the Liberian Registry while elaborating on the due diligence procedures, both onboarding and ongoing, which have been implemented to ensure sanctions compliance. The Liberian delegation stressed the importance of training the Registry’s employees on sanctions compliance, as well as the intention to implement “Know Your Clients’ Clients” vetting procedures.
Ninety participants from other ship registries of the Africa region called Liberia the “benchmark registry” and the model for “best practices of flag registry management.” The Liberian Registry is proud to enforce strict sanctions compliance and to serve as a model for other ship registries worldwide.