"If the 51 countries speak in international forums, such as the United Nations, of course, they will be heard," Assistant Deputy for Delimitation of Maritime Zones and Border Regions at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment Sora Lokita stated during the First High-Level Meeting (HLM) of the AIS Forum here on Wednesday.
Through the summit that was held on October 10-11, Indonesia invited AIS participating countries to sit together to find smart solutions and explore cooperation to address their common challenges.
The AIS Forum is expected to become a center for producing innovative solutions and a cooperation platform for encouraging global maritime governance.
Lokita explained that the locations of the 51 participating countries stretch from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
He pointed out that at the forum, developed, developing, and least developed countries sit together to discuss the challenges of governing oceans in the future.
With their wide ocean coverage, he noted that countries included in the forum have huge potential to develop a sustainable blue economy.
Since its establishment in 2018 through the Manado Joint Declaration, archipelagic and island countries in the forum have shared experience and knowledge with one another.
"Many countries, such as Madagascar, have not seen (the potential) of oceans. They do not have fisheries storage or processing facilities. This is about the matter of mindset and timing to become the future's great economic power, and that is why AIS Forum seeks collaboration," Lokita affirmed.
The 1st HLM of the AIS Forum is expected to produce a joint declaration by AIS leaders that will aim to establish the forum as a treaty- or charter-based international organization and one that can produce concrete cooperation programs.
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Translator: Dewa W, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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