20th cohort of UNU-FTP fellows graduate

UNU-FTP 2017-2018 fellows.

On February 26th the twentieth cohort of United Nations University Fishery Training Program (UNU-FTP) fellows graduated. President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, attended the cermony.

This year 21 fellows took part in the Six-months Training Program of the UNU-FTP. Eight specialised in quality management, seven in stock assessment and fishing gear technology, and six in sustainable aquaculture.

Altogether 368 fellows have completed the training program since it began in 1998.

The ceremony was steered by UNU-FTP Chairman, Sigurður Guðjónsson, director of MFRI.

First, UNU-FTP director Tumi Tómasson explained the program and reviewed how it had evolved from a relatively simple mission in 1998 with fellows from only 3 countries to more and more complex operations involving fellows in more than 50 countries and short courses in over 20.

Tumi also mentioned some of the challenges world fisheries are facing today, i.e. overexploited natural stocks, heavy post-harvest losses and so on. In light of this UNU-FTP definitely has an important role to play in supporting the newly adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Following these reflections, president of Iceland Guðni Th. Jóhannesson addressed the ceremony. He described how, during the last century, fisheries became backbone of the Icelandic economy. Through this experience Iceland gained valuable knowledge about how to modernize the sector. “And this is exactly why the UNU Fisheries Training Program is so important,” he said.

After the president´s speech UNU-FTP vice director Þór Ásgeirsson called forward the fellows one by one to receive their graduation certificate which were handed out to each of them by the president. 

Finally, Romauli Napitupulu, gave an inspirational speech on behalf of graduating fellows: “When we get back home we are not only fellows," she reminded the audience “but we are agents of change into our communities".

President of Iceland at the graduation ceremony.