Global Maritime Partnerships - GMP

Global Maritime Partnerships (GMP) are a new approach to cooperation among maritime nations with a shared stake in international commerce, safety, security, and freedom of the seas. GMP serves as a basis for building a global consensus on policy principles and for undertaking common activities to address maritime challenges by improving collective capabilities. Global Maritime Partners will seek opportunities to assist one another in using the sea for lawful purposes and legitimate commerce, while limiting use by those who threaten national, regional, or global security.

Requirement

Maritime security is increasingly linked to economic prosperity, and requires a common understanding and a joint effort for action on a global scale. Maritime security is required to ensure freedom of the seas, facilitate freedom of navigation and commerce, advance prosperity and freedom, and protect the resources of the ocean. Nations have a common interest in achieving maritime security that underpins economic security. Terrorism, rogue states, and international criminal activity threaten that security and prosperity. There is a clear imperative for a collaborative international approach.

Governance and Membership

GMP is not a formal organization or agreement led by any country. It does not have any structure requiring formal membership. It is a collective effort driven by partner requirements and is encouraged by mutual international outreach among nations. Participation is voluntary and GMP seeks to foster partner capacity building through the promotion and sharing of "best practices" in maritime security, situational awareness, and information sharing. Partners call on all maritime nations sharing this vision to support the following principles.

Principles

Partners in GMP are committed to promoting maritime cooperation in security and commerce on a determined and systematic basis, consistent with existing national legal authorities and obligations and relevant international law and legal frameworks.

• Global maritime security requires international cooperation. In the interest of global security, stability, and collective economic prosperity, Partners are bound together by dependence on the seas and the corresponding need for security in the vast maritime domain. The private sector, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, regional partnerships, and national and state governments should work together to ensure that the maritime domain remains a foundation for economic progress.

• Partners will voluntarily seek opportunities to cooperate in capacity building, promoting maritime security, and protecting the maritime domain from the full range of maritime security threats, including acts of terrorism, piracy, and other criminal , unlawful or hostile acts committed by State and non-state actors. Partners will share best practices and help to build partner capacity while respecting national sovereignty and the exercise of freedom of navigation.

• Transparency of the maritime domain enhances security at sea. Transparency at sea means that actors who wish to exploit unprotected maritime areas and harm the international economic system may not hide. Safer seas translate into reduced risks and lower overhead costs for international business.

• International organizations have a vital role in maritime security issues, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the World Customs Organization (WCO), and the International Labor Organization (ILO). Effective implementation of international and national security standards and programs, such as those embodied in the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, WCO's Framework of Standards and the IMO's Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) program, also play vital roles in promoting and ensuring maritime security.

• This approach recognizes the primacy of existing systems, regional coalitions, and encourages inclusivity and diplomatic efforts while seeking to share best practices. It provides partners the framework to think globally, while acting regionally.

GMP Framework:

The international community has turned increasingly to voluntary, non-binding partnerships to respond to emerging and rapidly evolving security threats. Changing conditions in the maritime environment can be effectively addressed through voluntary collaboration and coordination among like-minded maritime states and other stakeholders. GMP embodies a concept for such international collaboration on a broad range of maritime issues, e.g., security, commercial, and environmental issues. Through its voluntary nature, partner nations can form unique adaptive arrangements with like-minded states - bilaterally or multilaterally - to address maritime challenges. Participation of international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and industry should be encouraged where appropriate. In some cases GMP can leverage and encourage effective partnerships already in place. Examples of effective partnerships between countries, agencies and international organizations that support and are consistent with the goals and principles of GMP include the following:

• MALSINDO - An international partnership to address the historical and re-emergent challenge of piracy in the Strait of Malacca. A combination of USG agencies interacts with an independent partnership between Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (MALSINDO) to protect maritime commerce in the Straits through cooperation, coordinated patrols, and mutual enforcement of the maritime laws.
• Jakarta Initiative - The IMO has worked with Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia to protect their interests, which include maritime safety and security as well as environmental protection. In 2005, those three states along with 31 other countries that use that waterway agreed to the "Jakarta Initiative," a groundbreaking framework to manage the Strait of Malacca.

GMP promotes such partnerships and their applications. As an activity- based approach that facilitates the exchange of best practices in countering common maritime security challenges, GMP requires an informal and adaptive organizational framework. Though not designed to formal or hierarchical in the operational sense or represent any official governance, the framework will be based on capability & capacity, and to some degree geographic location.

Progress

2009 U.S. Navy NGO Conference

The 2nd annual Navy-NGO conference was held at InterAction? from 18-19 November, 2009 to discuss ways/strategies for improving civil-military (civ-mil) cooperation in permissive environments. The Navy, USAID, and InterAction? shared their perspectives on the evolving civ-mil dialogue; the Navy shared its draft policy for cooperation with NGOs in permissive environments; the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy (OSD/P) and InterAction? presented tools for the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) of projects; and the Navy provided a more detailed view of its enduring engagement missions. The following briefs were presented:

2009_Navy_NGO_Conference_Agenda

Maritime_Strategy_RADM_Lemmons

Navy_NGO_Policy_CDR_Robb_Bennett

Project_Handclasp_CDR_Robb_Bennett

Pacific_Partnership

Africa_Partnership_Station

Comments

Also see the Naval Studies Board's "Maritime Security Partnerships" available on line and from the National Academies Press. Gene Porter gporter@ida.org nap.edu

-- GenePorter - 04 Jan 2010

Sources

US Navy Position Paper on GMP

-- ChadHolmes - 15 Jan 2009