 Welcome to the World Radio Communication Conference 2023 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where I'm joining the studio this afternoon by Mr Javier Jasnikowski who is the Head of Operational Safety for the Sub-Division of Operational Safety and Human Elements for the Maritime Safety Division for the International Maritime Organization of the IMO. That's the short bit. Javier, welcome to the studio. Thank you. Javier, you've taken the time to be here at WRC 23. Why is this an important event for the International Maritime Organization? Well, first of all, thank you for having invited us and it's a pleasure to be here this year participating in WRC 23. I represent the International Maritime Organization that is a specialized UN agency with responsibility for the safety and security of ships and also the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution from ships. There are a number of issues that we are looking to address in terms of regulatory developments in IDU that most of them will concern maritime services. In particular, we are looking at establishing new systems for the global maritime distress and safety system. So we would like to ensure that the necessary actions are taken to allocate the necessary spectrum. But you're also presenting our position to protect the spectrum already allocated from any potential interference or from other regulatory measures that may be adopted at this WRC. Now, there's been a great collaboration between the IMO and ITU. It's very significant when it comes to maritime safety. Perhaps I could ask you to elaborate on how the two organizations work together. Certainly. There is a long history of a good collaboration between IMO and ITU. Both are sister organizations, UN organizations. And I can say that since early 2000, we have established even an intersessional working group that meets on an annual basis to address issues related to maritime radio communications. We work together. We send liaison statements between two organizations. We establish regular communications in preparation for radio conferences. But the collaboration is not just at the institutional level. There is also good collaboration at the secretariat level. We cooperate quite a lot, in particular with Carly's board of directors, head of fixed and mobile maritime services division, which I appreciate quite a lot. But we also collaborate in matters related to technical cooperation activities and also the revision of publications and other things. So I think there is a good, well-standing collaboration between the two organizations. What are the key spectrum areas that the IMO would like the WRC to address? And how would that impact the work of the IMO? Well, you may know over 80% of goods that are transported by sea. It is really relevant, really relevant for us that we ensure that enough expectation is allocated for maritime services. We have recently revised one of the chapters of our convention, Solar Chapter 4 on maritime radio communications that will come and will enter into force on 1 January 2024. There are a number of revisions and new systems that will be implemented. We are foreseeing the necessary regulatory actions by ITU to ensure that these systems will come into effect. Some of them are related to the implementation of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, or the GMDSS. There are terrestrial systems, satellite systems associated to it, the concept of in navigation and also the recognition of new mobile satellite services that are in a way of implementation. And what are IMO's views regarding impending digitalization? Well, digitalization is one of the hot topics I could say currently at IMO. And IMO is very supportive of initiating discussions in terms of digitalization of voice communications in particular. But in addition to that, there is far more work being conducted within IMO in terms of digitalization, data exchange between ships themselves and also between ships and shore. We are considering addressing many of these matters and looking forward to collaborating with the work of ITU in the future. Well, Javier Iannikowski, thank you very much indeed for being with us in the studio and we look forward to catching up with you again at some stage in the near future. Thank you for inviting us and it's a pleasure to be here with you. Thank you. And if you've enjoyed this interview, then do check out our other interviews on our YouTube channel as well as our podcast on our podcast channel SoundCloud Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And for further information, visit our website at www.itu.inc. Thanks for tuning in.