As this column sees print, I would be enroute to Manila after participating in the conference in Alexandria, Egypt, to assist in the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) activity of establishing the Arab-WIMA (Women in Maritime Association). The Arab women who came to the inaugural meeting of the Arab-WIMA (AWIMA) represent an elite group of managers and leaders in their respective maritime administrations and private sector enterprises. The participants’ qualification are quite impressive not only in terms of their educational background but more so in the positions they occupy. There was for example a harbor master from Port Said of Libya and a chemical engineer from Egypt who is responsible in simulating oil spills. The representative from Saudi Arabia is the branding and communications manager of Bahri, the national oil and shipping company of Saudi Arabia and Sudan’s participant is a maritime lawyer. Egypt’s participants were strong in the maritime education sector, understandably as most of them come from the Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.