Eng. Nicolas Vukelja Duque,   former president of The Panama Maritime and Shipping Chamber, expressed his gratitude for the election of Mr. Dominguez as the next Secretary General of the IMO stating:  “we are proud to have a Panamanian citizen and engineer, as Secretary at the IMO, on the most important designation in the Maritime Sector, especially in this dynamic times when  we need a balance between the  technical skills  and the law at the IMO”.

A maritime country, Panama runs the  Panama Canal, a route for a transit for over 10,000 vessels  annually, holds  the first flag register country with more than 8,000 vessels on record , and  is also the first flag country with the mayor total tonnage capacity (cargo space) of the world.

Mr. Vukelja, a former member of the IBIA Board, reminds that Panama is in top 8 countries with bunkering ports among countries of the world, with 4.5 million metric tons Bunker Market. Panama is also responsible for supplying more than 20% of the vessels that transit the Panama Canal.