Public policy initiatives in the maritime sector are fundamental to ensuring longevity of the international maritime sector. However the fragmentation of policy from the continental perspective can have devastative results because the inability of policy to transcend international borders opens the table for mass problems relating to competitiveness. A good example is to review the past 25 years of EU policies which have shown that many internal policies have failed significantly mainly with regards to the EU and its relationship with other jurisdictions. It is very important therefore that Africa identifies these shortcomings whilst forging ahead with the development of her policies and regulative structures. To ensure that similar pitfall are avoided policy must make all attempts to embrace International aspirations but to also balance this approach whilst maximising the competitive position of African member states. This is a multi faceted and complex task, and will require substantial inputs from interested parties.
Providing a clear and transparent approach to the policy making process and encouraging stakeholder consultation and intervention will increase the sureties that African Maritime polices will be sustainable and indeed from a historical perspective provide the coming generations a roadmap of action that has been well thought out and will underpin African pride in her martime secotors and industries.
To assist this call AMSSA will embark on its own roadmap of action that will feed into the development process of the African maritime policy branch and official commission of the AU. The main focus will be to begin the process of identifying the links between effective maritime policies and how the understanding to the level of complexity in relations between jurisdictions, administrators, politicians and the industry may impinge on the capacity of those polices to really be implemented .
