Retno was scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the IORA secretary general and counterparts from several countries here on Thursday, on the sidelines of the IORA conference. But her bilateral meetings had to be cancelled due to the obituary.
Retno had planned to hold a banquet with the delegates from India, Comoros, Bangladesh, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Somalia.
However, the ministerial level meeting of IORA on Thursday will still proceed and will be chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Abdurrahman M. Fachir instead of Retno.
Over 250 delegates from 21 countries will participate in the meetings, which comprise the 3rd Ad-hoc Committee Meeting on the IORA Concord on October 22 and 23, the 16th Meeting of the Working Group on Trade and Investment on October 24 and the 18th Meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials on October 25 and 26.
The 16th Ministerial Meeting of IORA is expected to produce a Bali Communique, reiterating the commitment of the Indian Ocean Rim countries to strengthen the synergy and consultations for regional stability.
They will also discuss an IORA Concord, which is expected to be approved in an IORA Summit in March 2017.
Indonesia is currently the IORA chairman for the period between 2015 and 2017 under the theme "Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean."
The meetings will also be attended by representatives from seven partner countries, namely the US, the UK, Japan, Germany, Egypt, France and China.
(Uu.O001/INE/KR-BSR)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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