"Ladies and gentlemen, this Indian Ocean Rim has a great history with cultural diversity. Indonesia is the largest country of maritime economic zone in the eastern part with about 17 thousand islands," the president said in his welcoming address during the dinner event.
On the occasion, Jokowi wore a black suit, and accompanied by the First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo, who wore a long red blouse.
During the event, the head of state invited the audience to enjoy the dance and music that was served at banquets.
The president expressed a hope that the heads of state and delegates kindly join the summit and provide productive results in the maritime field.
"Please dont forget to enjoy world-class shopping in Jakarta, its culinary, as well as golf courses and their hospitality. I hope you will visit Indonesia more often," Jokowi pointed out.
Earlier, the IORA ministerial meeting had agreed several outcomes, to be brought to the meeting of heads of state and government at the IORA summit to be held on Tuesday.
The IORAs ministers meeting was co-chaired by a troika consisting of three foreign affairs ministers of Indonesia, South Africa, and Australia.
"Today, we had a very productive meeting with a number of outcomes," Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, the Chair of the ministers meeting, said here on Monday.
The first outcome adopted by the IORAs Council of Ministers Meeting was an agreement to implement modalities for the first IORA Leaders Summit to be held tomorrow.
Secondly, the ministers also endorsed a strategic and visionary IORA Document, called the Jakarta Concord, which will be submitted to the leaders of IORA member states at the summit for their agreement.
"The Jakarta Concord provides a clear direction that will enhance and strengthen the IORA cooperation," Marsudi stated.
The Jakarta Concord will strengthen the six IORA priorities, namely maritime safety and security, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries management, disaster risk management, academic science and technology, and tourism and cultural exchange. It also endorses three new important issues for future cooperation of IORA members.
The three new important issues include blue economy, womens empowerment, and the promotion of democracy.
The third outcome that the minister adopted was the IORA Action Plant, the first action plan that IORA has produced.
"The Action Plan is a living document that provides concrete steps and measures," Marsudi noted.
Currently, the IORA is a dynamic organization of 21 member states including Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, and Yemen.
In addition, IORA has seven dialogue partners including the US, the UK, Japan, Germany, Egypt, France, and the Peoples Republic of China.
IORA is celebrating its 20th anniversary in March 2017. Indonesia, as the current chair of the IORA, will host the first ever IORA Leaders Summit.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
