"The Rp50 billion fund is a form of Indonesia`s commitment to the construction of a CTI-CCF representative office," the director general of fisheries, coastal areas and small islands at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Sudirman Saad said here on Tuesday.
Saad said construction of the CTI-CCF Regional Secretariat office would commence in November 2011 and the office was expected to go into service some time in the next two years.
He said other countries` commitment to the project would be specifically discussed at the 7th Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in Jakarta on October 25-26.
The meeting which would be attended by representatives of donor countries such as the United States and Australia was expected to agree on a legal document for the establishment of CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat in Manado, he said.
The SOM will be followed by the 3rd Ministerial Meeting on October 28 to be attended by ministers of CTI-CFF member states, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.
Representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Conservation International, The Nature Conservation, Global Environment Facility, and World Wild Fund for Nature will also participate in the meeting.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to meet with ministers of CTI-CFF member states ahead of the 3rd Ministerial Meeting on October 28.
Earlier, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo said CTI-CFF would lose an important momentum if the meeting failed to resolve a number of strategic issues related to the legal basis for the formation of CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat.
In 2007, six countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, declared Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI).
(T.M040/S012/HAJM/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
