IORA Summit to Produce Four Documents

Jakarta, IORA – Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) will produce four documents to encourage Indian Ocean region to be peaceful, stable, and prosperous. These four documents are IORA Concord, IORA Action Plan, IORA Declaration on Preventing and Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism, and lastly the Joint Declaration of the IORA business Community to Build Partnership for a Sustainable and Equitable Economic Growth. “IORA Summit will produce four documents which will be approved by the member states of IORA,” said the Director for Information and Media Services, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Siti Sofia Sudarma, at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Sunday (5/3). Those four documents have been discussed in the senior officials meeting on Sunday (5/3) and got supports from 21 IORA member states as well as seven dialogue partners. Later, gradually, these documents will be discussed at the ministerial level on Monday (6/3). Finally, they will be presented at the Leaders’ level on Tuesday (7/3). The primary document, IORA Concord, also called Jakarta Concord, is a strategic document containing the visions and norms of the future of IORA cooperation. IORA Concord will strengthen regional architecture in facing the challenges in this region. The second, IORA Action Plan, is a document containing the implementation actions of Jakarta Concord. It also strengthens the implementation of priority areas and cross-sectoral commitments. Third, IORA Declaration on Preventing and Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism is an agreement of IORA member states about the importance of countering terrorism and violent extremism. Lastly, Joint Declaration of the IORA Business Community to build Partnership for a Sustainable Economic Growth is to strengthen the cooperation and partnership to broaden and diversify trade and investment focusing on small and medium enterprises. According to her, Indonesia argues that IORA needs to be developed to strengthen regionalism as well as encourage the habit of dialogue. “This effort can be done through the development of norms, rules of engagement, and institutionalism,” she said. The Director also explains about the benefits of Indian Ocean region for Indonesia. One of them is as the source of potential investment, with a total value of US$ 3.05 billion, or 41 percent from the total value of investment realization. “Indian Ocean region is also one of the center of world tourism which can attract 121.8 million tourists that worth US$ 146,8 billion. Indonesia's trade with 14 IORA countries records surplus for its side.” (Tri Antoro/Jul/Translator: LUK)