Anil Sooklal - JP/Fedina S. Sundaryani

The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), which Indonesia chairs until next year, comprises 21 rich and poor nations from around the Indian Ocean. At last week’s meeting in Bali, the association completed the final draft of the IORA Concord with guidelines to better ensure members benefit from the “blue economy” generated from the ocean. As South Africa will chair the organization next year, The Jakarta Post’s Fedina S. Sundaryani talked to the deputy director general of Asia and the Middle East at South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Anil Sooklal. Following are excerpts from the interview.

Question: What does IORA mean to South Africa?

Answer: Well, IORA has a very special meaning for South Africa. […] Indonesia will also [host] IORA’s 20th anniversary on March 7 next year and the first meeting was held in Mauritius on March 7, 1997. But the idea of an Indian Ocean community came from former [South African] president [Nelson] Mandela; during a visit in 1995 he indicated that it would be a good idea if all of the Indian Ocean countries could get together and discuss economic cooperation.

[South Africa is] emotionally attached to IORA because of the vision of president Mandela that the Indian Ocean is our ocean, and that the countries all washed by [its] waters should cooperate is a given.

What is South Africa most looking forward to during its chairmanship?

Much good work has been done by the previous chairs, including Indonesia’s current chair, so we’d like to continue building on the momentum around the six priority areas and the two cross-cutting areas — that is the ocean economy, as well as women’s mainstreaming and empowerment. So, we would like to give special focus to these areas.

Since the start of its chairmanship last October, Indonesia has been pushing for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing to be recognized as a serious issue. Will South Africa continue in the same vein?

We will, because fisheries is one of our priorities. We are all rich in fish and sea resources but we are not fully taking advantage of the capacity within the oceans. We are all victims of IUU fishing because as developing countries we don’t have the real capacity to patrol our waters. Your country has vast coastal areas, over 54,000 kilometers — how do you literally ensure that your coast is secure? It’s almost physically impossible.

Likezise, South Africa has over 3,000 kilometers of coastline spreading [across] both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean; it’s a vast terrain. We constantly have problems with illegal fishing vessels entering our waters and it’s very costly […] but […] today poaching and illegal, unregulated fishing is a global problem. These are unscrupulous private entities depriving the local community of their livelihood.

Especially in South Africa, which is rich in bluefin tuna, and is highly prized in the international market — one tuna in South Africa recently sold for US$100,000, which can lift up the livelihood of an entire village.

If you have poachers coming in and stealing these kinds of resources, you are undermining these countries’ abilities to develop themselves and to have income for the local people.

How does South Africa feel about the increase in political and security discussions among IORA member states?

First and foremost, [IORA was founded] to try to promote deeper economic interaction and partnership. But we live in an interrelated world today; what happens in the political sphere has a direct impact on our economic and developmental arena as well. […] Our major challenges [include] extremism, piracy, global political tensions between nations, contesting territories within the oceans — so naturally you cannot just discuss economic cooperation when you have serious political issues that challenge the peace and stability and impact directly on the economy of a country.

Just yesterday [Oct. 25], there was a terrorist attack in Kenya and a number of lives were lost. Now […] instead of diverting funding for development and economic assistance for our people, we have to put funding into security and securing our people and country. So, IORA cannot disregard [extremism and terrorism] because it’s a reality that impacts on Africa, ASEAN, South Asia, the Middle East, on Australasia. No country is immune.

Several countries have reportedly expressed interest in becoming IORA members, such as Pakistan and Myanmar. What is South Africa’s stance on that?

It’s important that IORA is inclusive because we want to see inclusive growth and a spread of mutual partnership and development; that is one of the underpinnings of IORA. IORA is open to all states whose shores are washed by the Indian Ocean’s waters.

South Africa has no problem with anyone becoming a member because we have strong bilateral relations with all of these countries, they are friendly countries for us. But membership is based on [application], [which] is considered first by the CSO [committee of senior officials] who then put their recommendation to the council of ministers for that country to be admitted as a full member, on the understanding that they comply with the principles of the charter. Thus far Pakistan, Myanmar or the Maldives have not formally applied for membership.

How do you see the role of IORA’s seven dialogue partners?

Well, the reason why we have dialogue partners is that the Indian Ocean is the property of the global community, but [regarding] countries that border the Indian Ocean, we have the first and the most important element of ensuring that it’s an ocean of peace, security and development. But we also recognize that the ocean has been traversed by all nations because it is a major trading route.

These are seven major dialogue partners [US, UK, China, Germany, France, Japan and Egypt]; five of them are G7 members; while Egypt is a major African country and China is a major global power. So, they bring greater importance to IORA; the fact that these major countries have decided to become dialogue partners is [because] they see IORA as an important body.

The challenge is how […] we can speak openly to these countries about maritime safety and security, developmental issues, about the ocean economy because these countries are by and large developed countries, except China and Egypt. They have major strengths which they can bring to the table in partnership with IORA, in addressing our priority areas.

For example, the US or Germany have very advanced ocean economies. Countries like South Africa […] haven’t really [exploited] the opportunities that the ocean offers us in our economic diversification and development. We can learn from these countries and being in partnership with them can only make IORA stronger.

How do you see Indonesia’s leadership so far in IORA?

Indonesia has done an excellent job. It was Indonesia’s idea to have a summit level leaders’ meeting [next March] and […] we must credit Indonesia because [it will be] the first time in 20 years that you are bringing the leaders of IORA into a leaders’ meeting. That in itself is a major boost to IORA; it also helps upscale [our] activities […] and strengthens partnerships.

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