The Philippine delegation to the upcoming Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit has warned against political motives in choosing a country as the host for the permanent office of the Coral Triangle Secretariat.

Philippine Agriculture Minister Arthur C. Yap said the implementation of the much-lauded CTI program and its plan of action would depend mostly on the "quality" of the permanent secretariat.

"The choice of the CTI Secretariat has to be internationally and regionally agreed. We must remove any political debate in deciding the host of the permanent office," he said on the sidelines of the Global Ocean Policy Day on Wednesday.

"The *elected* country should be able to listen to opinions and voices from six member countries. No country can monopolize the agenda of the CTI."

Both the Philippines and Indonesia have submitted proposals to host the secretariat.

The final decision will be made at a summit Friday for leaders of the six coral triangle countries - Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia.

"We've already offered to host a permanent office and we're very ready to support the CTI program," Yap said.

Senior officials from the six countries are debating crucial issues, including the location for the CTI Secretariat and financial matters, to be officially adopted by the summit.

The leaders will adopt a non-binding document of the CTI regional of plan of action as a guideline to conserve coastal and marine resources within the region. Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi was upbeat that all points in the draft declaration, including that on the secretariat, would be agreed upon before the summit.

The CTI budget will come from the six member states and donor countries, including the US and Australia, and international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and USAID.

The CTI has already received pledges worth US$300 million, including $40 million from the US.

The ADB and GEF plan to raise a total of $25.5 million in funding for Southeast Asia and the Pacific to protect coral reefs, with Southeast Asia to receive $12.3 million.

The coral triangle is home to 76 percent of the world's coral species and 37 percent of its reef fish species, and straddles 75,000 square kilometer of the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Yap lauded the CTI for also discussing food security to eradicate poverty.

"The CTI is a very good step toward protecting marine biodiversity because coral reefs are the center of total marine biodiversity," he said.

"It emphasizes people, poverty eradication and also climate change."

He warned that lack of action to protect coral reefs would place the world and humanity in danger.

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