Indonesia Opposed To Ignoring Island States

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesia has expressed opposition to ignoring island or archipelagic states, call for equal treatment.

"No one should ignore an island state. An island state, even with a population of only 8 thousand people, has one vote similar to ours, with 260 million people. Hence, it is our duty to embrace them," Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said after closing the Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Conference here on Wednesday.

In view of that, Indonesia, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has initiated the AIS Conference forum here on Tuesday to deal with climate change.

A total of 18 island and archipelagic states, including Antigua & Barbuda, Bahrain, Cuba, Cyprus, Fiji, Guinea Bissau, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Madagascar, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Singapore, and Britain, attended the meeting.

Luhut stated that Indonesia's role as leader of the forum, because it was the one that had initiated it, would be officially confirmed at a ministerial-level meeting to be held in Bali in 2018.

"No one should say Indonesia is weak. We are a strong country," he added.

The forum is expected to become a platform for cooperation; exchange of knowledge; extension of technical assistance; access to funding, especially in the blue economy; and mitigation of the impact of climate change, sea garbage, disaster management, and sustainable fishery.

"Indonesia has taken an initiative as it is the biggest archipelagic state in the world," Luhut noted.

The Indonesian government, in cooperation with UNDP, would set up a trust fund, which could later be used by archipelagic and small island states that have no access to climate change projects funds.

Deputy for maritime sovereignty of the coordinating minister¿s office, Arif Havas Oegriseno, explained that access to funding has indeed become a challenge for small island states affected by climate change.

In view of that, he hoped that the trust fund initiative could become a platform to draw funds from parties wishing to participate in helping the island and archipelagic states deal with the impact of climate change.

"Indonesia will be committed to the trust fund. We hope other countries would do the same. We also hope international institutions and development banks would be interested in it. We also wish to see the cooperation of private sector, because there are a lot of them that are interested to be involved in climate change and sea issues," he elaborated.

The mechanism is expected to become the source of funding to be developed in the future into a "blended finance." (WDY)