to set up infrastructure. No recognized MSI organization Courses are needed under capacity building programme. It was agreed that IHB visit Seychelles to encourage for the membership of IHO and NIOHC Chair would encourage Seychelles to become a full member of NIOHC. No Agenda Item 16th NIOHC Conference Action Action By Date 12 6 IHB to visit Seychelles to encourage for the membership of IHO IHB 31 December 2016 13 6 Encourage Seychelles to become a full Member of NIOHC Chair On going USA NGA produces 246 charts for NIOHC region. The U.S. is not responsible for any INT series charts in the NIOHC region. The U.S. is an active participant in the IHO Capacity Building Sub-Committee, and the U.S./NGA directly supports the IHO Maritime Safety Information (MSI) training course. No MSI training course was offered in the region in 2015. Two Category A hydrography programmes and one Cat B programme are available. 7. Committees and Working Groups 7.1 North Indian Ocean Chart Coordination Working Group (NICCWG) The Chairman explained the basic rules related to INT charts proposal and approval process as well as those related to ENC production. He also emphasized the need for regular updates on the publication information on INT Charts for inclusion in S11/INToGIS. He also explained the problems related to overlap of ENC coverage in the same User Bands. The Chairman then opened the discussion and invited the delegates to bring up issues/proposals if any. No Agenda Item 16th NIOHC Conference Action Action by Date 14 7.1 Updates on publication information of INT Charts to be conveyed to NICCWG Coordinator (India) All INT producers 31st December 2016 Sri Lanka Sri Lankan delegate brought out that they were in the process of preparing a proposal for a large scale INT Chart being schemed for Hambantota Port. No Agenda Item 16th NIOHC Conference Action Action by Date 15 7.1 Sri Lanka to put up proposal to NICCWG Coordinator (India) for a large scale chart for Hambantota Sri Lanka As soon as possible
the NIOHC and represent NIOHC at IRCC8. 20. Election of Chair and Vice Chair The Chair asked Egypt as the current Vice Chair if they wished to succeed to be the next Chair as per NIOHC Statutes article 1e. Egypt agreed to accept Chairmanship of the NIOHC for 2016-2017. All MS congratulated Egypt and offered to assist in the new role. proposed India for the Vice Chair nomination. India agreed to accept the Vice Chair. All MS supported this nomination. Therefore, India will be the Vice Chair for the year 2016-2017. 21. Date and Venue of the next conference offered to host the 17th NIOHC Conference. It confirmed the place will be at Alexandria, Egypt and the conference will be held in the month of March 2017. The dates (04 days) will be confirmed later on. The offer to host the conference was warmly welcomed by the participants. Egypt will confirm the dates within 2 months. No Agenda Item 16th Conference Action Action by Date 38 21 to confirm dates of 17th NIOHC Conference Egypt 15 May 2016 39 21 Considering the importance of NICCWG meeting, Conference to be organized for 04 days. On going 22. Approval of the Action List Throughout the discussions in the conference, some action points were taken for further action by the Chair, MS and IHB. All delegates reviewed these action points to ensure that they were satisfied with the wording, timescales, appropriateness, etc. Finally, the 16th NIOHC Conference Action List was approved by the MS. 23. Closing Remarks from the Chair and handing over of NIOHC flag to the new Chair. The Chair mentioned that the three days had been indeed highly interactive and educative for all. The enthusiastic participation by all the distinguished delegates was very encouraging. The conference was very successful and could achieve desired objectives. He further mentioned that the conference started with many expectations and he was sanguine that the conference could fulfill those expectations. By now, it is quite evident that NIOHC is an effective platform for cooperation and coordination of hydrographic activities, capacity building, Maritime safety, E-Navigation, production of nautical chart, technical assistance and training support. He sincerely thanked all the distinguished delegates for their excellent support and active participation in various discussions. The Chair further stated that it was a unique privilege for Bangladesh Navy to host the 16th NIOHC conference at Chittagong. Bangladesh Navy was honored and delighted for delegates’ gracious