IORA Summit underscores Seychelles’ commitment to regional integration |17 March 2017

The recent Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) leaders’ summit held in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 5 to 7 has reaffirmed Seychelles’ commitment towards regional integration and further demonstrated the determination of member states to collectively tackle challenges.

This is the view of Vice-President Vincent Meriton who was speaking to the press yesterday about the Summit which he attended.

The Summit was organised by Indonesia, who is the chair, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the association. It followed the Council of Ministers’ meeting and a business summit which engaged the private sector on March 6. Vice-President Meriton was representing President Danny Faure at the summit.

IORA is a regional forum which aims to facilitate and promote economic co-operation, bringing together inter-alia representatives of member States’ governments, businesses and academia.

It comprises 21 member states, namely Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Currently, IORA has 7 Dialogue Partners which consist of China, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

The IORA Summit is the first meeting of the leaders of IORA member states since its establishment in Mauritius in 1997. It was held during Indonesia’s chairmanship of the IORA for the period of 2015-2017. Australia was the previous chair; Indonesia the current while South Africa will be the next from 2017 – 2019.

“The IORA Leaders’ summit marked the twentieth anniversary of the association. The leaders present evaluated what has already been achieved, challenges they are facing and the way forward. They signed the Jakarta Concord which has six main areas. They are maritime safety and security, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries management, science and technology cooperation, tourism and cultural exchanges and disaster risk management. These major areas form part of the concord that we signed followed by the adoption of the Action Plan which contains eight areas – the six that are in the Concord and the two cross-cutting areas which are the Blue Economy and Women’s Economic Empowerment. Also on the agenda was the institutional and broadening engagement which aims at strengthening the IORA secretariat,” explained Mr Meriton.

The Concord is a non-legally document which aims to promote peace and prosperity in the region through greater cooperation. As a goals-oriented document, the Concord aims to promote regional cooperation and guide the strategic direction of IORA. The six priority areas and two cross-cutting issues identified are aligned to the country’s regional objectives and reflects its national priorities. And these are promoting maritime safety in the region; enhancing trade and investment cooperation in the region; promoting sustainable and responsible fisheries management and development; strengthening academic, science and technology cooperation; fostering tourism and cultural exchanges and improving resilience and response to disaster risk management. The cross cutting issues are aimed at harnessing and developing the Blue Economy in the region; promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

The IORA Action Plan (2017-2020) outlines the programme of work to be done in the short, medium and long term by the region.

“We put a lot of emphasis on the necessity to promote integration in the Indian Ocean, place great importance on the Indian Ocean as a frontier with lots of untouched resources and the necessity to have a sustainable approach in use of the region’s resources,” Mr Meriton says.

Elaborating on the Concord’s contents on maritime safety and security, VP Meriton said the recent hijacking of a tanker off the coast of Somalia is the first such attack since 2012. This means, he said, many actions are being undertaken by Indian Ocean countries and outside partners to ensure safety in that maritime space.

On trade and investment, Mr Meriton said contacts and exchanges between member states happen as they are important to bring about competition, exchange of expertise, to allow infrastructure development, like physical one so the private sector, government and collaboration between IORA states occur so as to facilitate development.

Regarding science and research Mr Meriton said it is very important that science is used to manage the processes we have like in fishery, mineral exploration, tourism…. all these are important in the use of science.

On tourism, Mr Meriton mentioned examples such as the return of cruise ships in our waters, deep water diving where he again stressed on good collaboration between member states so our maritime space is used effectively.

It is important, he said, we share information on disasters and remain within the Sendai (in Japan) framework. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 outlines seven clear targets and four priorities for action to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks.

“All these areas are in a sustainable perspective. What we do should not destroy all the resources available but preserve them for future generations. We also discussed the sustainable development objectives No 14 based on sustainable resource development,” said the VP.

On women empowerment he described it as a very important aspect as women play key roles in the country’s development.

On the strengthening of the IORA secretariat, Mr Meriton said member states discussed ways of supporting each other.

He added bilateral discussions between countries were also held especially on exchange of experiences and know-how.