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Indonesia offers fishermen financing cooperation at IORA meeting
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Vice President Jusuf Kalla delivers his opening speech at the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Second Blue Economy Ministerial Conference (BEC II) in Jakarta on May 8. (Antara/Widodo S Jusuf)
I
ndonesia promoted a partnership scheme to help finance small-scale fishermen to members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) during the ongoing IORA Second Blue Economy Ministerial Conference (BEC II) in Jakarta on Monday.
The idea was met with a positive response from IORA members, said the coordinating maritime affairs minister’s assistant for maritime sovereignty affairs, Arief Havas Oegroseno, as reported by Antara on Tuesday.
He said such a partnership scheme had been in implemented in several countries, including South Africa, Oman, Mozambique and Madagascar.
"The partnership will allow private companies to obtain funds from the bank to help fishermen,” he elaborated.
(Read also: Indonesia to link maritime axis plan to IORA countries)
In Indonesia, he added, state-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) had allocated Rp 14 trillion (US$ 1.05 billion) for credits for small-scale fishermen, from which each fisherman could receive loans of up to $2,500.
Meanwhile, IORA secretary-general KV Bhagirath expressed his optimism that the IORA BEC II forum would be able to formulate programs useful for member countries.
"The Indian Ocean region has huge potential that can be developed, however we have not done much," he emphasized.
BEC II is a follow up to the implementation of the IORA Leaders’ Summit held on March 5 to 7 in Jakarta. (bbn)
