UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japan urges multi-layered cooperation at the national, regional, and international level against transnational organized crime at sea, a senior Japanese diplomat said here Tuesday.
Speaking at the Security Council Debate on "Transnational Organized Crime at Sea as a Threat to International Peace and Security," Koro Bessho, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, said that as a country which conducts 99.6 percent of its international trade volume on maritime transportation, Japan takes the issue of maritime security very seriously.
We believe that peaceful seas governed by the rule of law bring prosperity for all, Bessho said.
"Japan led the way in founding the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia, in short called ReCAAP, which has successfully reduced piracy in Asia over the past decade," he said.
Despite these, "the issue of transnational organized crime at sea remains a concern," he said, adding that this is especially the case in the Gulf of Guinea, which has seen rising piracy and armed robbery in recent years.
Mounting an effective response to this threat will require both a strategic and a comprehensive approach, the Japanese diplomat said, urging multi-layered cooperation at the national, regional, and international level.
Comprehensive approach is also needed, he said, by empowering individuals and communities in addition to ensuring maritime governance.
The cause of maritime insecurity: poverty, which provides a fertile environment for organized crime, and poverty drives desperate people to desperate measures, must be tackled, the Japanese diplomat said.
