Indonesia to join Indian Ocean grouping
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia along with 13 other countries are set to launch the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) next year as a vehicle to further enhance cooperation among countries in the region.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a statement here yesterday the forum will formally be launched during a ministerial meeting in March in Mauritius.
"For Indonesia, its participation in the IOR-ARC will complement other sub-regional and regional cooperation it is already participating in forums, such as ASEAN, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and Asia-Europe Meeting," the statement said.
The idea of forming an Indian Ocean grouping was launched by Mauritius when it invited six countries -- Australia, India, Kenya, Oman and Singapore and South Africa -- for a meeting in 1995. By the end of the meeting they had agreed to form the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative.
The initiative was founded on the desire to create a foundation of cooperation between countries in the Eastern and Western half of Indian Ocean.
The forum would focus its activities mainly on economic cooperation particularly trade and investment. Activities are also a combined effort between the government, private sector and academics.
In a subsequent meeting several months later, the grouping agreed to invite seven other countries to participate: Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Yemen.
A personal invitation for Indonesia to join in the Indian Ocean grouping was delivered to President Soeharto here in April by a special envoy of Mauritian Prime Minister Ram Gulam.
In preparation of next year's meeting, senior officials of the 14 countries gathered in Mauritius last week.
The Indonesian delegation, which participated for the first time, was headed by the Foreign Ministry's Director General for Foreign Economic Relations Soemadi Brotodiningrat.
The meeting successfully produced a declaration and work program for the new forum which would be forwarded at the inaugural ministerial meeting in March. (mds)