Six heads of state and government confirm participation in OOC-2018

Denpasar (Antaranews Bali) - Six heads of state have confirmed participation in the "Our Ocean Conference" (OOC) 2018 in Bali, October 29-30 this year.

The Maritime Affairs and Fishery Ministry (KKP) and the Foreign Ministry have been assigned to organize the OOC 2018, head of the Public Relations and International Cooperation Bureau of the KKP Lilly Aprilya Pregiwati said here on Friday.

The conference in Bali would be the fifth OOC and the first in Asia . The first and second OOC in 2014 and 2015 were held in the United States and the third in Chile in 2016 and the 4th in Malta in 2017. The next conference after Bali would be in Norway in 2019.

OOC 2018 would be participated in by various stakeholders including heads of state or government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, public figures , etc, Lily said.

"Until Oct 16 , 2018 , six heads of state and government already confirmed participation. Also confirming participation are 32 ministers, and 1,696 delegates. The number is expected to rise in the next several days," he said.

In a joint press statement by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Jakarta on Oct 17, Maritime Affairs and Fishery Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said as the host of OOC 2018, Indonesia will play the role of leadership in maritime and fishery sector.

"This is in line with the maritime diplomacy, which the Indonesian government has continued to actively exercise," she said.

At least there are six issues to be raised in the OOC this year including sustainable fisheries; marine protected area; marine pollution; climate change; sustainable blue economy and maritime security.

Retno said OOC 2018 would be different from the previous OOC when the meetings ended only with Memorandums of Understanding or agreements. The OOC 2018 should have result in commitments, she said.

"We would seek to act and concrete action that when we are in conference there would be commitment. Concrete commitment of countries how to protect the oceans , how to address related issues. Therefore, there will be another key words in concrete commitment," she said.

To ensure that the commitments are properly implemented, a system of tracking mechanism would be created in the OOC 2018, to gauge and control how far the commitments have been implemented.

"We don`t want the conference merely as a forum of talking without concrete results. Our Ocean Conference the 5th has to deliver result," she said.

Economic Benefits

Minister Susi said the issue of blue economy is deliberately brought forward in an effort to bring to reality sustainable fisheries. "To preserve marine resources and to keep it productive," she said.

She said maritime security is more important as the future war is no longer over political interest, ideology and religions , but more over control of shrinking food and water resources.

"In the forum, Indonesia will share its view of bold action in bringing about change in its fishery policy with sustainable management,"she said.

She said the change in fishery policy had redressed the country`s fish trade balance from years of deficit into one with big surplus. In four years, Indonesia fishery industry has transformed from the most backward in southeast Asia into the biggest in the region.

Susi said she hoped that the commitment in the OOC 2018 could be proposed to the United Nation Ocean Conference to be included in SDG`s 14, Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.

"As a host of the OOC 2018, Indonesia will have big economic gain. Sustainable blue economy and various other action plans would increase maritime economy and prevent damage to the sea. Those are our benefits," she said.

She said the benefits are indeed not immediately visible or tangible in real cash but in the preservation of the environment, in blue economic principles, and in sustainability and preservation of marine resources.

Speaking about climate change she said that climate change would hurt everybody.

"What benefit would we have by preventing climate change? Very big, priceless. An increase of 2 degrees in temperature could be a threat to human life . Forests could be demolished under too high heat of the earth, she said.

Foreign Minister Retno said in diplomacy, if Indonesia is raising the issue of the sea or other related issues, the country is not speaking about the interest of other countries but more of its own interest, which happens to be internationally shared.

"Especially as being a member of the G20, Indonesia must have a concrete contribution to the world. The Indonesian track record in diplomacy for humanity has been proven. When speaking about peace, the Indonesia is always top up. We also want to invest in ocean diplomacy, and being trusted to host the OOC 2018 is one of the concrete actions of Indonesia to show our legacy, our ocean issues or our ocean related issues," Retno said.

She said a country would won respect from the world for its track record and contribution to the good of other peoples in the world including to protection of the sea of the world.

"We should know that OOC 2018 is not the first event in which Indonesia holds the leadership in the maritime and fishery sector. In 2016, Indonesia also hosted Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), and Indonesia joined the Small Island Development in State (SIDS)," she pointed out. (WDY)