The International Maritime Organization (IMO) called, on Thursday, for calm in the Red Sea, stressing that it “supports freedom of navigation and calls for calm in the Red Sea region.”

The Suez Canal Authority issued a statement in which it said its president held a meeting via video conference with the head of the International Maritime Organization, Arsenio Dominguez, to discuss developments in the situation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.

According to the statement, Dominguez affirmed the organization’s full support for the Suez Canal, sending a clear message to all members of the organization that navigation in the Suez Canal will remain open to everyone.

Domínguez explained that the current conditions in the Red Sea region “impose many challenges on the global trade movement and the maritime transport market, in addition to their negative effects on the Suez Canal and the ports in the region.”

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was established in 1948, under the name of the Consultative International Maritime Organization, and entered into force ten years later, in 1958, with its headquarters in London. It aims
to work to improve safety at sea and combat marine pollution. And establishing a system to compensate people who suffer financial losses due to marine pollution, and establishing an international system for distress calls and search and rescue operations.