The convention will take effect as of today. Before the admission, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister  of Governmental Sector Development and Chairman of the National  Authority for Communications (NAC), has instructed the authority  to take all measures needed to meet requirements of the convention.

Salim Ali Al Za’abi, assistant under- secretary at NAC  for land and sea affairs, said the UAE’s move was in implementation  of the GCC recommendation for quick admission to the Marpol  convention. 

He said that a national committee comprising representatives from seaports, Supreme Petroleum Council , Adnoc, Federal  Environment Agency and the Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi,  was set up to remove obstacles and establish a mechanism to put the GCC recommendation in place.