Bali – Indonesia will once again host the 2023 Archipelagic and Island States Summit (AIS Summit) Forum which will be held in Nusa Dua, Bali on 10-11 October 2023. This activity will be attended by more than 25 countries participating in the 2023 AIS Forum Summit. has confirmed his presence in the series of activities.
Deputy for Maritime Sovereignty and Energy Coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Jodi Mahardi, said that the 2023 AIS Forum Summit was the Government’s effort to realize Indonesia as a strong maritime country.
“The 2023 AIS Forum was formed to strengthen Indonesia’s leadership in international forums and to be the Government’s commitment to realizing Indonesia as a superior maritime nation,” he explained.
To make this happen, the Head of the 2023 AIS Forum Summit Secretariat, Riny Modaso, said that the 2023 AIS Forum Summit must prioritize strengthening solidarity to handle various problems in the maritime sector. This is based on the principle that the AIS Forum was initiated as a forum for addressing global maritime problems with the aim of strengthening collaboration between island and archipelagic countries.
“Island and archipelagic countries generally face the same maritime problems, namely adaptation and mitigation of climate change which causes sea levels to rise, disaster management, handling plastic waste at sea, and good maritime governance. “In this forum there needs to be a collective effort to overcome this issue,” he said.
“This then became the reference for the 2023 AIS Forum to bring the key message of solidarity as one of the derivative themes, while also bringing two other main topics, namely the Blue Economy and Our Ocean, Our Future,” he added.
In its development, Riny explained that the AIS Forum 2023 participating countries collaborated and worked together through programs carried out by the AIS Forum 2023 Secretariat.
“AIS Forum 2023 continues to facilitate efforts to strengthen solidarity between island and archipelagic countries. “These values of solidarity are then realized in various work programs such as the Joint-Research program in the field of research and development,” he said.
A similar view was also expressed by the Indonesian representative at the Research and Development Conference (AIS R&D Conference), Alexander Muhammad Khan, who believed that this event was an opportunity to find a solution to the climate problems experienced by many parties.
“The AIS Forum is an opportunity for island and island countries to find joint solutions to overcome climate change,” said Alexander.
Alexander, who is also a researcher at Padjadjaran University, said that the presence of the AIS Forum is very important because island and archipelagic countries are currently facing the real enemy of climate change.
With Indonesia hosting the 2023 AIS Forum Summit, it is hoped that it can strengthen the relevance of island and archipelagic countries in producing development issues, strengthen their position in the maritime sector as the center of regional economic growth, and respond to various global challenges.
For this reason, Indonesia’s chairmanship of the 2023 AIS Forum Summit with the theme “Fostering Collaboration, Enabling Innovation for Our Ocean and Our Future” is intended to make island and archipelagic countries more compact and superior so that they can become a motor and contribute to higher maritime growth than previously.