{"id":73029,"date":"2025-12-19T18:31:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/international-flag-state-association-looks-to-advancing-role-in-policymaking\/73029\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T18:31:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:31:55","slug":"international-flag-state-association-looks-to-advancing-role-in-policymaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/international-flag-state-association-looks-to-advancing-role-in-policymaking\/73029\/","title":{"rendered":"International Flag-State Association Looks to Advancing Role in Policymaking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"meta\">&#13;<br \/>\n            <meta itemprop=\"datePublished\" content=\"2025-12-19T10:21:28.0000000\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n            <span class=\"date\">December 19, 2025<\/span>&#13;<br \/>\n            <meta itemprop=\"dateModified\" content=\"2025-12-19T10:21:28.0000000\"\/>&#13;\n        <\/p>\n<div class=\"images-wrapper single\">\n<div class=\"images\">\n<div class=\"image active\">\n                <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        Panama flag. \u00a9 IFA&#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div property=\"articleBody\">\n<p><span lang=\"EN\">The International Flag-State Association (IFA), an association of the world\u2019s three largest registries\u2014Liberia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Panama\u2014has been meeting since 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN\">IFA is the first alliance of its kind and was designed to allow its members to have a platform to more formally engage with respect to global challenges, stakeholder insight, and the development and implementation of international instruments to enhance maritime safety, security, the protection of the marine environment, and the welfare of seafarers, among others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN\">Unlike other maritime sectors, flag States previously lacked a dedicated and formal global platform. IFA aims to fill that gap. For example, in 2024, IFA members enhanced the capabilities of the successful Registry Information Sharing Compact (RISC) by improving the paths to information exchange through an integrated online database. The RISC database is an online tool for consultation among subscribed flag States that allows for easier access to details on problem vessels that may be evading regulations or engaging in suspicious activities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN\">While information sharing has been the priority to date for IFA, one of its next steps will be applying for consultative status at the International Maritime Organization to more actively contribute to international policymaking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN\">IFA founding member representatives include Alfonso Castillero, Chief Executive Officer, Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry; Bill Gallagher, Senior Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs, Republic of the Marshall Islands Maritime Administrator; and Alexander De Gracia, Deputy Administrator, Panama Maritime Authority.\u00a0<\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><span class=\"fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib\" style=\"width: 413px;\"><span class=\"fr-img-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/file\/2025\/12\/1766158312_992_International-Flag-State-Association-Looks-to-Advancing-Role-in-Policymaking.jpg\"\/><span class=\"fr-inner\">Liberia flag. \u00a9 IFA<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN\"><span class=\"fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib\" style=\"width: 414px; width: 414px;\"><span class=\"fr-img-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/file\/2025\/12\/1766158315_520_International-Flag-State-Association-Looks-to-Advancing-Role-in-Policymaking.jpg\"\/><span class=\"fr-inner\"><span lang=\"EN\">Republic of the Marshall Islands. \u00a9 IFA<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; &#13; December 19, 2025&#13; &#13; &#13; Panama flag. \u00a9 IFA&#13; The International Flag-State Association (IFA), an association of the world\u2019s three largest registries\u2014Liberia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Panama\u2014has been meeting since 2021.\u00a0 IFA is the first alliance of its kind and was designed to allow its members to &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/73030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}