The meeting was officially opened on Monday by a Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry official for marine research and development, Endhay Kusnendar.
Chairman for APEC`s Fisheries Working group Gelwynn Jusuf said the participants of the meeting would discuss food security and climate change issues.
"Food security has become an important issue to sustain people`s life through sufficient supply of food but at the same time we will also ensure that we can create a healthy environment," Gelwynn Jusuf said after the meeting`s opening ceremony.
As in the case of climate change issue, he said the increasing of populations in the Asia Pacific region had a negative impact on the environment, and therefore comprehensive action must be taken soon to tackle the problem.
He said the working group meeting in Bali was an important forum for APEC member countries to discuss how they would strengthen cooperation in order to face today`s global challenges such as the food security and climate change issues.
Meanwhile, Chairman of APEC`s Marine Resources Conservation Working Group Ulises Munaylla from Peru stated recently the world was facing the negative impacts of climate change on the marine biodiversity which eventually would also affect food security.
He expected the Bali meeting would produce positive inputs to member countries of APEC in relation to the efforts to tackle climate change and secure food supply to the people.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) of the 22nd Fisheries Working Group (FWG), the 24th Marine Resource Conservation Working Group (MRCWG) are participated in by 63 officers from 15 APEC member countries, namely USA, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Chile, Russia and the Philippines.
The event is also attended by an observer from an Independent Assessor and four expert speakers, including from the NGOs.
Since 2010, the Lead Shepherd position for APEC FWG has been held by Gellwynn Jusuf from Indonesia, who is also currently serving as Secretary General of Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, while Ulises Munaylla from Peru is the Lead Shepherd from APEC MRCWG since 2009.
They are both co-chairs of the three-day meeting. (T.SYS/A/O001/A/O001)
(ANTARA)
Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
