IORA Concord`s drafting process began since March 17: Indonesian FM

This is the mandate of the IORA Ministerial Conference held in Padang, last October."

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The drafting process of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Concord has been started since March 17, spokesman of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry Arrmanatha Nasir stated here on Thursday.

"The first meeting of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the IORA Concord had started since yesterday and is expected to conclude today. This is the mandate of the IORA Ministerial Conference held in Padang, last October," he remarked.

The IORA Concord is a document to strengthen regionalism as well as to establish concrete cooperation among member countries in the Indian Ocean region, particularly in the economic field.

The concord is planned to be approved by the heads of state or government of the IORA member states participating in the upcoming IORA Summit, which will be held in Indonesia in 2017.

The IORA Concord is designed to encourage the optimal utilization of opportunities and to address challenges in the region, according to Arrmanatha.

The concord is also aimed at tackling some non-traditional issues such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; human trafficking; drug trafficking; illegal immigration; and piracy.

The idea of the necessity of the concord was initiated by Indonesia and was approved by the IORA member states during the 15th IORA Ministerial Meeting held in October 2015.

To that end, the meeting produced the document of "Decision on the Establishment of the Ad-Hoc Committee of the IORA Concord" containing the mandate of the establishing committee to draw up the IORA Concord.

This committee is scheduled to meet four times until the next IORA Summit.

The meeting of the Ad-Hoc committee on the IORA Concord is attended by 20 out of the 21 IORA member states: South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Comoros, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Yemen.

Thailand, which failed to attend the meeting, affirmed its support for conducting the drafting process of the IORA Concord and made assurance to be present during the next meeting.

(Reported by Yuni Arisandy/Uu.INE/KR-BSR/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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