Bali – The Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Summit (Summit) Forum 10-11 October 2023 in Bali calls for strengthening solidarity to overcome common problems in the maritime sector.
This is based on the principle that the AIS Forum was initiated as a forum to overcome the problems faced by island and island countries. This was conveyed by the Head of the AIS Forum Secretariat, Riny Modaso in Jakarta
“Island and island countries generally face the same problems when faced with maritime issues. One example is climate change which causes sea levels to rise. The first to be faced with this problem were of course island and archipelagic countries. “This is where the AIS Forum sees that there needs to be a collective effort to overcome this issue,” explained Riny Modaso.
To overcome common problems, he said, of course collaboration and joint work are needed. This then became a reference for the AIS Forum to convey the key message of solidarity as one of its derivative themes. The other two main topics are the Blue Economy and Our Ocean, Our Future.
“These three discussions are a summary of the four focuses of the AIS Forum’s work so far, namely climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as disaster management, blue economy, handling plastic waste at sea, and good maritime governance,” said Riny.
In its development, AIS Forum participating countries collaborate and work together through programs carried out by the AIS Forum Secretariat. In various work focus areas, the AIS Forum continues to facilitate efforts to strengthen solidarity between AIS countries.
On another occasion, the Director General of Multilateral Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemlu RI), Tri Tharyat, said that a number of countries had confirmed the presence of seven heads of state, two deputy prime ministers, four ministers, director generals and ambassadors, as well as two international organizations.
AIS is a form of cooperation between island countries regardless of area, size and level of development to jointly address the problems of using marine resources for sustainable economic growth, resilience to climate change, marine pollution, emergency management and improving sustainable fisheries.
The implementation of the AIS Forum Summit in Bali is the first and is the right medium to re-emphasize the importance of collaboration and mutual solidarity, which is strengthened at the level of heads of state/government.
