SIX FOREIGN AFFAIR MINISTERS TO ATTEND CTI SUMMIT IN MANADO

Manado, Central Sulawesi, Dec. 17 (ANTARA) - Six foreign affair ministers are confirmed to attend the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit to be held in Manado, North Sulawesi, May 11-15, 2009, according to an official of the marine ministry.
The CTI Summit would be organized coinciding with the World Ocean Conference (WOC), Syamsul Maarif, the director general of marine, coastal areas and small islands of the marine and fishery ministry, said here on Wednesday.
CTI member countries are Indonesia, the Philippines, Solomon Island, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Timor Leste, while the United States and Australia are observers.
The foreign affairs ministers and marine stakeholders would discuss cooperation to protect coral reefs in the world, he said.
The Indonesian marine and fishery ministry, as organizer of the planned CTI Summit, had held three CTI Coordination Committee meetings respectively in Jakarta, Solomon Island, and Manila (the Philippines), he said.
Meanwhile, Xandramaya Lalu, head of the North Sulawesi provincial marine and fishery office, said WOC and CTI Summit would discuss six main agenda, namely Global Climate Change, Marine Mega Biodiversity, Maritime Industries and Services, Marine and Coastal Hazard Mitigation, Ocean as the Next Frontier and Integrated Ocean and Coastal Management.
Other issues which would also be discussed, would include global marine observation system, marine geology and geophysics, marine tourism, marine protection, coral reef, fish cultivation and management, and small island management, he said.