Day: 18 April 2018

A ceremony was held on Wednesday, April 18, at the Princess Grace Hospital (CHPG) to sign the National Energy Transition Pact.

The goal for the establishment is to commit to a carbon-free Monaco. In his speech, Jean-Luc Nguyen, Director of the Mission for Energy Transition, reminded everyone present of the importance of this project, which has been promoted from the start by HSH the Sovereign Prince.

Noting that this signature is in line with the actions of the CHPG over many years, Mr Nguyen praised the dynamism, motivation and, more generally, the commitment of this “Green Hospital” in terms of sustainable development and energy transition.

PHOTO: Patrick Bini, Director of the Princess Grace Hospital Centre, signs the National Pact

for energy transition, accompanied by Benoîte de Sevelinges, Deputy Director of the establishment in charge of Material Resources and the New Hospital project, and Jean-Luc Nguyen, Director of the Mission for the Energy Transition.

Photo credit: © Manuel Vitali / Directorate of Communication

The Fifth High Level Conference on the Reform of the European Convention on Human Rights was held in Copenhagen on April 12 and 13, after which a Declaration was adopted by the all Council of Europe member states.

The signatory states reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring that the Convention constitutes an effective, targeted and balanced tool implemented in a concrete manner at the national level.

Similarly, while welcoming the efforts of the European Court of Human Rights to improve the clarity and coherence of its judgments, the Declaration emphasises the need for the Court to ensure a careful and balanced interpretation of the provisions of the Convention, within a margin of interpretation left open to the States to continue.

The Conference was also an opportunity for each Minister of Justice of the Parties to the Convention to deliver a speech. Mr Laurent Anselmi, Director of Judicial Services of Monaco, and President of the Council of State, emphasisedl the Principality’s unwavering commitment to the system of protection of human rights established by the Convention.

He also underlined Monaco’s determination to promptly implement the judgments of the Court, while noting that the French authorities also remain very attentive to judgments concerning other States.

PHOTO 1: The Monegasque delegation was composed, from left to right: Mr. Maxime Maillet, Administrator at the Directorate of Judicial Services, Mr Laurent Anselmi, Director of Judicial Services, President of the Council of State, and Mr Jean-Laurent Ravera, Head of the Department of International Law, Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Directorate of Legal Affairs.

PHOTO 2: Mr Laurent Anselmi, Director of Judicial Services, President of the State Council, during his speech at the Copenhagen High Level Conference on Systematic Reform of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Orchestra of the Carabiniers of the Prince will be playing in Moscow this summer, at the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival on Red Square, news outlet Sputnik International reports.

“Our performance at the Spasskaya Tower festival will include a musical composition from the Game of Thrones. We are also preparing many other surprises for the audience of the festival. It will be interesting,” head of the orchestra Olivier Drian told RIA Novosti.

The annual military music event will be held on Red Square from August 24 to September 2. More than 40 countries have taken part in the festival since 2006. The event is named after the world-famous Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin

The head of the orchestra said that when the 24 carabineers leave Monaco, the other bodyguards have more work to do protecting the Prince.

“Most recently we played at the Prince’s birthday, and it was a special event in which many different bands participated. I think Prince Albert liked everything because my head is still on my shoulders,” Olivier joked.

The Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival 2018 will see the participation of many Russian and foreign military bands, folk groups and the honour guard units of foreign countries.

A rescue exercise, led by the Division of Maritime and Airport Police (DPMA), assisted by the Fire Brigade, which also involved the Department of Maritime Affairs (DAM) and Bouygues Public Works, took place aboard the ship ‘Simon Stevin’ in the offshore land extension zone in Portier Cove on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 18.

The scenario involved the evacuation of an injured sailor in the engine room of the ship. With the DPMA using the boat ‘La Vigilante’, the Fire Brigade treated the victim on the spot and then evacuated him to land aboard the tugboat ‘Shoalbuster’, made available by Bouygues Travaux Publics.

The ‘Simon Stevin’ is involved in the building of the embankment to which will be moored the giant caissons of the land reclamation project.

Monaco-based Scorpio Bulkers announced on Tuesday, April 17, that the company has entered into a financing transaction in respect of one of the company’s Ultramax vessels with an unaffiliated third party in Japan.

As part of the transaction, the company will sell a 2015 Japanese built Ultramax dry bulk vessel, SBI Tango, for a consideration of $19 million and then lease it back from the buyer through a five-year bareboat charter agreement at a rate of $5,400 per day. If converted to floating interest rates, based on the expected weighted average life of the transaction, the equivalent cost of financing at current swap rates would be LIBOR + 1.73 percent.

The transaction also provides the company with options to repurchase the vessel beginning on the third anniversary of the sale until the end of the bareboat charter agreement. This transaction, which will be treated as a financial lease for accounting purposes, increases the company’s liquidity by approximately $10.3 million after repayment of the vessel’s existing loan.

Scorpio Bulkers is a provider of marine transportation of dry bulk commodities and has an operating fleet of 56 vessels consisting of 55 wholly-owned or finance leased drybulk vessels, including 18 Kamsarmax vessels and 37 Ultramax vessels, and one time chartered-in Ultramax vessel.