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Ad-hoc committee drafts preliminary version of IORA Concord
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A map showing the Indian Rim Ocean countries. (Courtesy of asia.nikkei.com/-)
T
he Indian Rim Ocean Association (IORA) ad-hoc committee is currently drafting a preliminary version of the IORA Concord, aiming for concrete economic cooperation in the region.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said the meeting, which took place in Bali on March 16 and 17, was the first chance the IORA ad-hoc committee had to discuss the challenges and potential cooperation among countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
During the meeting, officials of the initiating states began to formulate a concept on how they could contribute to strengthening the regional architecture according to their tasks and authority to include in the document, Arrmanatha said.
The IORA initiating states are countries bordering the Indian Ocean, namely Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, South Africa, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
"It's also to prepare the [Indian Ocean] region as a growth center to balance the Pacific [region]," Arrmanatha said during a press briefing on Thursday.
The meeting is a follow up of the September 2015 IORA senior officials meeting in Padang, West Sumatra, which mandated the establishment of an ad-hoc committee to lead the drafting of the IORA Concord.
The ad-hoc committee plans to convene at least four times to discuss the concord before the IORA Summit in Indonesia in March 2017.
In addition to maximizing the potential of the region, the IORA Concord also aims to address non-traditional issues, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, human trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal migrants and piracy.
Of the 21 IORA member states, Thailand was unable to attend the meeting to pledge its support for the IORA Concord drafting but promised to attend future meetings.
The final IORA Concord will be signed by the 21 states at the first IORA Summit next year. (bbn)
