Indonesia To Hand Over IORA's Chairmanship To South Africa

Jakarta, (Antara Sumbar) - Indonesia will hand over the chairmanship of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to South Africa during the 17th IORA Council of Ministers' Meeting in Durban, South Africa, from October 14-18, 2017.

"At the IORA meeting, Indonesia will hand over Indonesia's chairmanship during its two-year term to the next chair, South Africa," Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Arrmanatha Nasir said during a press briefing here, Friday.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A.M. Fachir will lead the Indonesian delegates to IORA's ministers' meeting, while Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi will be staying in Indonesia during the IORA's meeting to welcome the two state visits of Qatar's Emir and President of Niger to Indonesia.

Indonesia successfully conducted the first IORA Leaders' Summit in March 2017 in Jakarta, which resulted in the Jakarta Concord and the IORA Action Plan.

Indonesia will deliver its report and achievements during its two-year IORA's chairmanship from 2015-2017.

Apart from the first IORA Leaders' Summit, several programs that have taken place during Indonesia's chairmanship will be reported in Durban.

The first is IORA Ministerial Blue Economic Conference that took place from May 8-10 2017 in Jakarta.

The ministerial meeting has specifically identified countries who have stated their voluntary commitment to promote blue economy development.

The second program is IORA Business Summit that took place in Jakarta on March 6, 2017.

The business summit yielded a joint declaration on the IORA business community, which is a stepping stone to improve the interaction between private sectors in countries along the Indian Ocean Rim.

Though it is no longer the IORA's chair, Indonesia will continue its active role in IORA, within the troika mechanism alongside South Africa as the chair and the United Arab Emirate as the future chair. (*)

Editor: Vicha Faradika