Indonesia Hopes Somalia Attends IORA Meeting

Padang, W Sumatra (Antara Bali) - Indonesia is expecting the presence of Somalia in the Ministerial Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) here which began on October 21 and will last till October 23, 2015, an official has said.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry's Director General for the Asia-Pacific and African Affairs, Yuri Thamrin, expressed his regret here on Wednesday evening over Somalia's failure to attend the first day of the IORA Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM).

"However, we still expect the presence of Somalia's representative and will wait till the last minute," he stated.

Somalia's presence is important because the country filed a proposal in 2010 to become the IORA member, and it was accepted, coinciding with the beginning of Indonesia's leadership of the IORA in 2015, Thamrin said.

According to him, Somalia should attend the IORA meeting in order to sign the documents relating to the IORA membership and take part in discussing the points that will be agreed upon in the organization.

In addition, Somalia's presence will also ensure that talks on the maritime security issue are more concrete and comprehensive.

This was so because in recent years, the piracy and maritime crime often used to occur in Somali waters against foreign vessels and had gravely affected the security of the Indian Ocean region.

Apart from that, Somalia is a country that has the longest coastline in the Indian Ocean region, he explained.

Therefore, until now, the IORA secretariat has been continuing to arrange for a representative of Somalia to attend the series of the IORA Ministerial Meetings.

"We hope that at least the country's ambassador in Jakarta can be present, either tomorrow (Oct 22) or the day after," the IORA's secretary general, KV Bhagirath, added.

As many as 19 IORA member countries which attended the meeting are Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry`s Director of Asia Pacific and Africa Inter-Regional Cooperation, Benyamin Carnadi, said here on Thursday (Oct 15) that Indonesia would propose an "IORA Concord" document for the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) countries to be adopted as a code of conduct and good governance to face new challenges in the Indian Ocean region.

According to Carnadi, Indonesia would endorse the IORA Concord to be adopted during the IORA summit, which is expected to be held in 2017.

"The IORA Concord focuses on regionalism, which means the Indian Ocean region should not only rely on the balance of power in the region but also on new commitments as we face new challenges in the Indian Ocean region," he noted. (WDY)