Hanqiang Tan

Deputy Director (International)/ Vice Chair IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee at MPA/ IMO

Speaker

As Deputy Director (International) at the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Hanqiang currently oversees a department that handles policy matters pertaining to international organisations and oceans governance, such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation (IALA) and Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ).

Hanqiang is also the Vice-Chair of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), a position he has held since 2023 when he was elected unanimously. He is an experienced negotiator who has chaired numerous meetings at the IMO, including on topics related to reduction of GHG emissions of ships. He played key roles that led to the IMO’s 2023 Strategy to Reduce GHG Emissions from Ships, adoption of short-term measures to reduce GHG emissions from ships, and agreement to the IMO Net-zero Framework that is the first in the world to combine mandatory emissions limits and GHG pricing across an entire industry.

In his decade of service with the MPA, Hanqiang has helmed various positions in international relations, port development and port regulations. This included being appointed as First Secretary (Maritime), High Commission of the Republic of Singapore to the United Kingdom (UK), where he represented Singapore at IMO-related meetings with distinction as Singapore’s Liaison Officer to the IMO.

Hanqiang graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laude) from Washington University in St. Louis, with a major in Economics and minors in Political Science and Mathematics. He also holds two Master’s degrees – a Master’s in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Climate Change, Management and Finance (with Distinction) from Imperial College Business School.