Mr. Dominguez Velasco (Panama) is new IMO Secretary-General

The IMO Council has voted to appoint Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco of the Republic of Panama, for an initial four-year term, as the next Secretary-General, as of 1 January 2024, subject to the IMO Assembly’s approval, the IMO informed on 18 July 2023.

The decision of the Council will be submitted to the IMO Assembly, which meets for its 33rd session from 27 November-6 December 2023, for approval.

Mr. Arsenio Dominguez Velasco has been the Director of IMO's Marine Environment Division since January 2022.

He joined the IMO Secretariat in 2017, first as Chief of Staff to the Secretary-General, Kitack Lim, before being appointed in 2020 as Director of the Organization's Administrative Division.

Mr. Dominguez Velasco was born in the Republic of Panama. He graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Fermin Naudeu Institute in Panama. He went on to study Naval Architecture at the University of Veracruz, Mexico, graduating in 1995.

Mr. Domiguez Velasco also holds an MBA from the University of Hull, and a Certificate of Higher Education in International Law and European Politics from Birkbeck University, both in the United Kingdom.

His maritime career began in 1996 as a port engineer at Armadores del Caribe in Panama before moving to become a Drydock Assistant Manager at Braswell Shipyard.

In 1998 Mr. Dominguez Velasco moved to London to join the Panama Maritime Authority as Head of the Technical and Documentation Regional Office for Europe and North of Africa.

He went on to represent Panama in a variety of roles at the organization, culminating in 2014 with his appointment as Panama's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to IMO until 2017.

Between 2014 and 2017, Mr. Dominguez Velasco chaired IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), and in 2015 he chaired the Technical Committee of the 25th session of the IMO Assembly.

Prior to this, between 2010 and 2014, he chaired the Maritime Security – Piracy and Armed Robbery Working Group under the auspices of the organization's Maritime Safety Committee.