INDONESIA RECEIVES ASSOCIATE MEMBER STATUS ON MSG

By Azi Fitriyanti Jakarta, June 27 (Antara) - Indonesia has become an associate member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) during the 20th MSG Summit in Honiara, Solomon Island on Friday. Representing the country, Vice Foreign Affairs Minister AM Fachir attended the summit in Honiara from June 24-26, 2015. "As an associate member, Indonesia commits to keep promoting strong and concrete cooperation with MSG in order to seek potentials and meet common development challenges," Vice Minister Fachir said in a press statement on Saturday. Before receiving its associate member status, Indonesia was an observer during the 18th MSG Summit in Fiji in March 2011. Fachir explained that the elevation in Indonesia's status in MSG was an effort to improve the cooperation among Pacific countries, located in a strategic geographical area in the Pacific region. Besides attending the summit, Fachir also conducted bilateral meetings with the prime minister, foreign affairs minister and other high ranking officials of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Island, and Vanuatu. Also, Vice Minister Fachir discussed more concrete efforts to carry out future cooperation between Indonesia and the MSG countries. Indonesia is home to 11 million Melanesians in five provinces, including Papua, West Papua, Maluku, North Maluku, and East Nusa Tenggara, resulting in the country seeing the Pacific countries as important partners. The focus of the Indonesian government to develop closer relations with the Pacific region was also shown by the visit of Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji, as her first official sojourn after becoming a minister. To Indonesia, the associate member status will allow the country to work closer and more intensively with MSG countries, who face similar development challenges as in Indonesia¿s archipelago region, such as vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change. On the economic sector, Indonesia seeks to multiply its volume of trade with the MSG countries, which now reaches US$ 260 million. Indonesia also commits to expand its ongoing technical cooperation, such as with fisheries, handicraft making, art and culture, and diplomacy, of which until May 2015, Indonesia has been conducting 130 capacity building programs participated in by 583 people from the MSG countries. In October 2015, the MSG countries are scheduled to participate in the Melanesian Cultural Festival to be held in East Nusa Tenggara. The MSG is a regional organization in which its members have Melanesian cultural backgrounds, made up of populations from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Kanak and the Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) of New Caledonia. The MSG's vision is to promote and enhance trade among its members, encourage Melanesian cultural exchanges, sustainable development, good governance, and increased security.***2***