Valletta, a World Heritage City, Capital of Malta

Malta, the small Mediterranean island nation, is home to the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) which, in May, held a graduation ceremony for forty graduates. Ten of those were students from developing countries who, under Nippon Foundation scholarships, completed a masters program in maritime law.

Graduate pledged as a legal expert

Having completed the eight month course, they will now return to their home countries to work for the development of maritime law there.

Students were awarded a diploma and gown

The ceremony was held on a beautiful sunny day, and Secretary General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos of the International Maritime Organization was in attendance. President David Attard gave each of the graduates a gown and diploma. The graduate from Brazil, addressing the assembly on behalf of the students, commented "We have studied together and become friends. We wish to continue to cooperate and contribute to the development of international maritime society."

At present, many developing countries' maritime policies do not meet the standards of international maritime law, and are far behind the rest of the world in the establishment of maritime law. One of the important missions of IMLI is to provide professional training to people from these countries in order to promote the establishment of domestic laws there.

IMLI was founded by the International Maritime Organization in 1988.

Valletta from sea

In order to fostering human resources of this field in developing countries, The Nippon Foundation started its scholarship program in 2003. Since then, graduates have gone on to work in the fields of maritime law, maritime administration, maritime and marine science, education, and justice. Including this year's graduates, the scholarship program has given birth to sixty-six maritime experts to date.

The Nippon Foundation will support another ten scholarships in 2010.