"One of Indonesia`s commitments is to build a permanent regional secretariat of CTI CFF in Manado, North Sulawesi," Sharif, concurrently chairman of the Coral Triangle Initiative-Coral on Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) Ministerial Council, said here over the weekend, according to a ministry press statement.
The minister made the statement after the signing of a Joint Ministerial Statement at the close of the Third Ministerial Meeting of CTI-CFF).
Indonesia is currently hosting a temporary regional secretariat office of CTI CFF to implement the CTI`s Regional Plan of Action (RPoA).
Every member country of CTI is encouraged to accelerate the implementation of the National Plan of Action (NPoA) of CTI-CFF through the agreed programs.
At the just-ended meeting, the ministers agreed on three important points, namely the establishment of a permanent regional secretariat of CTI-CFF; giving wider a mandate to the permanent secretariat to strengthen its international legal entity; and seeking strong support from donor countries such as the United States and Australia as well as from partners including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Conservation International (CI).
CTI-CFF donor countries and partners have reaffirmed their commitment to increase their funding and capacity building assistance. Australia even announced its plan to provide more funds.
The Third Ministerial Meeting of CTI-CFF on Friday (Oct 28) was preceded by the Seventh Senior Officials Meeting of CTI-CFF which was held on October 25-26, 2011.
The meeting was participated in by representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, the United States, Australia, ADB, CI, TNC, and WWF.
The participants included Australia`s Minister of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Tony Burke; Malaysia`s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Panglima Dr. Maximus Johnity Ongkili; Papua New Guinea`s Minister for Environment and Conservation Thompson Harokaq`veh; the Philippines` Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Ramon Jesus P. Paje; Solomon Islands` Minister of Environment, Conservation and
Meteorology John Moffat Fugui; Timor Leste`s Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Mariano Assanami Sabino Lopes` and US Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Alan Marciel.
(Uu.F001/HAJMO001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
