Leaders could meet this month or later in the summer todraw up a code to combat the gunmen, who have been raiding ships and takingcrews hostage in the region.
A new common approach could see the use of arrests,prosecutions and ship seizures, according to the IMO.
"Quite soon, probably before the end of this month,heads of states of West African nations will be meeting in Cameroon...to try toadopt a new code of conduct for anti-piracy activities," IMO chief KojiSekimizu told allafrica.com.
The code is modelled on one adopted by East African andArabic nations in 2009 in the Indian Ocean.
The IMO wants wealthy nations to fund the measures, Sekimizuadded.
