Lawyer Ann Fenech, Managing Partner of Fenech & Fenech Advocates and President of the Malta Maritime Law Association  was last Friday elected vice-president of the Comite Maritime International (CMI) by the General Assembly of the CMI held at the IMO in London.

The CMI is an international body established in Antwerp in 1891 with the aim of unifying International Maritime Law.  It has has been responsible of drafting some of the most important international maritime conventions including the Arrest Conventions of 1952 and 1999, the Collision Regulations and the Salvage Convention.

Fenech was suggested for nomination by Ireland and Sweden and  voted in by the members of CMI who are the  national maritime law associations of 51 different countries.  She is the first Maltese to be  elected to such a position within the CMI and the first woman ever to be elected to the position of Vice President.

Fenech was part of the CMI team heavily involved in recent efforts in persuading UNCITRAL (the United Nations Committee on International Trade Law) to accept the proposal of the Government of Switzerland to commence work on an International Convention on the International Recognition of Judicial Sales.  UNICITRAL has in fact added this project to its working agenda.

Fenech's election as Vice President of the CMI is considered as a very valuable addition to the profile of Maritime Malta.  She has been practicing maritime law exclusively since 1986