"I could not think of a better way to formally start the ‘Year of the Seafarer’ other than by commissioning a new training centre, such as the new branch of the Arab Academy in Port Said,” said IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos on Saturday, 9 January, as he formally opened an extension to the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT). The extension is on a new 77-acre site allocated for that purpose by the Governor of Port Said, who also officiated during the ceremony together with other senior officials of Egypt and Dr. Mohamed Farghaly, Director General of the AASTMT since October 2007. This latest expansion of the Academy comes within the context of significant development in the City of Port Said…