Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Policy Assessment and Development Agency at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be holding an international symposium to celebrate the 20 years of the establishment of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), in Yogyakarta on September 14-15, 2016.
A statement issued by the Agency and received here on Tuesday said the international symposium was part of a series of such events during Indonesias leadership of the IORA for 2015-2017.
IORA is an organization of the Indian Ocean-bordering coastal states. The organization was established in March 1997 and currently comprises 21 countries.
The members are Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Somalia.
In addition, there are seven dialogue partner countries, namely the United States, France, Britain, Japan, Germany, China and Egypt.
The association was formed based on the principle of ensuring an open region and strengthen economic cooperation, in particular to facilitate investment, economic promotion and social development in the region.
Indonesia officially became the IORAs chairman replacing Australia at the Council of Ministers' Meeting (COM) in Padang (West Sumatra) on October 23, 2015 for a period of two years.
The international symposium will be held under the theme, "The 20 years of IORA: Learning from the Past and Mapping Out the Future."
The symposium is a forum for brainstorming and exchanging ideas concerning the IORAs journey over the last 20 years.
The event will also map the challenges, gather lessons learnt during IORA's development, and formulate strategies to strengthen the organizations future.
Recommendations resulting from the symposium are expected to be one of the subjects in the IORAs government representatives meeting at IORA summit which will be held in Indonesia in March 2017.
The symposium will feature speakers from the government, academics and thinkers from some member states and IORAs dialogue partners, including South Africa, Australia, India, Indonesia, Iran, the United States and Germany. (WDY)
