"I appreciate the Seychelles government's support and cooperation, which encourages public interest and participation in efforts to accelerate a more inclusive, sustainable economic transformation and strategic partnerships in exploring pilot activities or other investments based on the blue economy," Trenggono said in a statement issued in Jakarta on Wednesday.
As a blue economy pioneer country, Seychelles, through its sovereign blue bond program, has realized the fishery potential of an area can be a guarantee for investors, especially for the development of marine tourism, he noted.
The Indonesian government, especially KKP, which manages marine areas, continues to strive to achieve ecological and economic balance as well as technological innovation by applying the blue economy concept, he remarked.
"We have carried out various breakthrough programs by applying the blue economy principle, namely the implementation of measurable fishing for ecological sustainability, increasing fishermen's welfare and also increasing non-tax revenue; developing the cultivation of four leading commodities in the global market, namely shrimp, lobster, crab, and seaweed; as well as the development of aquaculture villages based on local wisdom in freshwaters, brackish waters, and the sea," he explained.
According to the minister, in addition to supporting national food security, the programs will have a multiplier effect on national development.
The policy is also expected to encourage investment opportunities in primary and secondary activities, one of which is managing marine tourism by not forgetting the importance of preserving the ecology, he said.
One of the cooperative efforts by Indonesia and Seychelles was the 'Indonesia-Seychelles Blue Economy Workshop: Opportunities for Collaboration and Investment', held at the KKP Headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday (November 30, 2021).
According to the Special Envoy of the President of Seychelles to ASEAN, Nico Barito, as an archipelagic country, Seychelles pays very serious attention to the issue of saving the environment, especially marine resources.
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Therefore, he proposed bilateral collaboration in the marine sector, especially in small islands and sustainable marine tourism, responsible fisheries, conservation, and monitoring of biodiversity and islands to achieve economic growth as well as environmental preservation.
“In building a blue economy, we are focusing on quality over quantity. As in tourism development, it is necessary to apply the concept of development that can minimize its negative impact, namely through the concept of sustainable tourism. Communities, tourists, and host communities as well as local governments must practice the concept of sustainability. In the fishing zone, it is also necessary to set a quota of fish that can be caught for industry, traditional fishermen, and quotas for hobbies and tourism to avoid overfishing," he informed.
He also expressed the wish for collaboration in investment related to Seychelles' best practices in the blue economy and the preparation of policy recommendations to achieve blue economy coherence; exploration of facilities and infrastructure in setting priorities for coastal management, including monitoring, research, coastal protection, and risk-based spatial planning; as well as increasing the capacity of marine and fisheries human resources.
Meanwhile, Indonesia proposed cooperation in the development of tourism destinations such as Maratua Island in Kalimantan and other potential locations through the expansion of world-class international hotel networks; active synergy in attracting foreign investment through guaranteed Indonesian marine wealth (Blue Bonds) as an effort to build a sustainable Indonesian marine and fisheries sector; develop marine and fisheries human resources; as well as benchmark the development of marine tourism with the development of marine tourism training modules at Indonesian tourist sites.
Seychelles was the first country to launch sovereign blue bonds on the sidelines of the Our Ocean Conference on October 28, 2018, in Bali.
The export value of Indonesian fishery products to Seychelles in 2020 was recorded at US$546,428 an increase of about 733 percent from the previous year when it was pegged at US$74,449.
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Translator: M Razi, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
