IORA Leaders

Jakarta, IORA – Indonesia, as the current Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), brings the forum to the higher level by holding the IORA Leaders’ Summit in Jakarta on March 5 – 7, 2017. The Summit, which will be attended by world leaders including President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, will discuss the sharpening of six priorities of cooperation. “We want to make IORA move faster. First, the sharpening of six priorities of cooperation and cross-cutting issues, namely blue economy and gender empowerment. That is why the IORA Concord is realized with real, concrete action plan. There are short, medium, and long terms within the period of four years,” Director General for Asia Pacific and Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Desra Percaya, said in a press conference at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Sunday (3/5). The six priorities of cooperation include Maritime Safety and Security, Trade and Investment Facilitation, Fisheries Management, Disaster Risk Management, Academic, Science and Technology Cooperation, and Tourism and Cultural Exchanges. Desra explained that the IORA Concord is the initiative and the realization of Indonesia’s Chairmanship that has been approved by the member states entitled “Jakarta Concord, Indian Ocean Rim Association: promoting regional cooperation for peaceful stable and prosperous Indian Ocean”. The IORA Leaders’ Summit will produce various agreements apart from the Jakarta Concord, including Senior Official Meeting (SOM) which proposes the IORA Action Plan for the next four years. For the record, IORA was established in 1997 which focused on economic cooperation. Today, IORA focuses on various cooperation which adjust the developing issues, that is, to discuss the importance for member states to maintain maritime security in the region, one of which by respecting international maritime law. The IORA Leaders’ Summit is held for the first time since it was established 20 years ago, precisely on March 6, 1997. Indonesia has become the Chair of IORA since 2015 and this year its chairmanship will end and it will be replaced by South Africa. IORA was officially established on March 6, 1997. The association was initially known as the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC). However, at the 13th Ministerial Meeting in Perth, it became the Indian Ocean Rim Association in order to enhance public awareness in which the association serves as the unifier of the Indian Ocean region. To date, there are 21 member states of IORA, including South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and Yemen. In addition, IORA also took seven dialogue partners, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Egypt, France and the People's Republic of China. There are also two observing organizations of IORA, namely the Indian Ocean Tourism Organization (IOTO) and the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG). (Wawan Budianto/Jul/MUR)