OAS, U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada hold Crisis Management Exercise

ZIZ News…March 4, 2010 – The Organization of American States (OAS), in association with the U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada have joined forces to hold a Crisis Management (table top) Exercise in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, from March 3-5, 2010, at the National Emergency Management Agency building.

The purpose of the Exercise will be to strengthen the capacity of the Federation’s current security arrangements in the event of an incident at a port facility within the framework of the obligations established by the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, for the protection of ships and port facilities. Through this Exercise, facilitators hope to detect coordination shortcomings, difficulties in the decision making process and also contribute to that process through discussions between political and port security authorities, on the duties and obligations of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.

This event is likely to attract representatives from a number of Federal Agencies and organizations. Representatives are likely to be drawn from both the policy-strategic and technical expert levels as well as high-ranking officials of the relevant ministries, port administrators, port security officers, emergency response personnel and other agencies which would be called upon to react in the event of a real emergency.

According to Mr. Ignacio Ibanez, Program Manager for the OAS Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (OAS/CICTE), in Washington, D.C., the main objective of the Exercise would be to analyze, mainly at a strategic and national level, the complex and multifaceted interaction, capabilities and mandates of each agency involved in the response to a crisis at the port facility, to improve coordination between these agencies and to generate discussion and recommendations towards mitigating vulnerabilities.

As an outcome of this Exercise, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is expected to prepare an After Action Report of the Exercise and an Improvement Plan.

The Opening Ceremony for this Exercise will take place on Thursday March 4, 2010 at NEMA Headquarters, commencing at 9:00 am.