IOI Honorary President contributes as an expert speaker in the International Roundtable Consultation “MARITIME ORDER IN THE GLOBAL ERA, National Interest vs. Common Good of Humanity” organised in Memory of Arvid Pardo and Elisabeth Mann Borgese,
25 September, Valletta, Malta
And Courtesy visit to IOI HQ from the organisers and speakers
26 September, IOI HQ, Malta
The Roundtable Consultation was organised in Malta in memory of Arvid Pardo, Malta’s first Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1964 and the Father of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and of Elisabeth Mann Borgese, Founder of the IOI.
Over the years, Professor Mann Borgese guided the development of the IOI into an international platform advocating for responsible ocean governance and the peaceful use of the seas—principles inspired by the Common Heritage of Mankind, as articulated by Dr Arvid Pardo, also one of the IOI’s founding figures. It was therefore fitting that one of the scene-setting expert interventions on the 25 September event was given by IOI Honorary President, Awni Behnam, an early collaborator of Elisabeth within the IOI, as well as a close personal friend.
The following day, a delegation led by Professor Hans Köhler, President of the International Progress Organization (IPO), and other distinguished speakers of the International Roundtable Consultation organised by the IPO, paid a courtesy visit to the IOI Headquarters to learn more about the ongoing mission of the IOI, more than 50 years on from its foundation in 1972. https://www.ioinst.org/ioi-50/
Antonella Vassallo, Managing Director of the IOI, delivered a brief introduction on the organisation’s valuable work, complemented by an insightful video presentation. An interactive exchange between all present further highlighted the need for dedicated and tailored formation of ocean leadership and the complementarity of IOI’s mission with the thematics of the earlier IPO session.
Photos credits to IPO