Bali – Bali Province is once again hosting an international event. This occasion is the Island and Island Countries (AIS) High Level Conference (Summit) which discusses four maritime issues and has been scheduled in Nusa Dua, Badung Regency on 10-11 October 2023.
“Most of the AIS members have confirmed their attendance, we hope that as the event approaches more and more will confirm,” said the Director General of Information and Public Communication of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kemenkominfo), Usman Kansong on the sidelines of the Media Briefing regarding the AIS Summit and the World Water Forum (WWF) in Nusa Dua, Bali.
According to him, the AIS Summit, which is a forum for cooperation between island and island countries, is not just a meeting but emphasizes concrete solutions related to four problems, namely climate change mitigation, blue economy, handling plastic waste at sea and maritime governance.
Meanwhile, on the same occasion via video conference, Assistant Deputy for Delimitation of Maritime Zones and Border Areas at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Sora Lokita, revealed that the four issues were formulated through country identification at the AIS forum.
He revealed that the AIS forum was an Indonesian initiative whose idea first emerged in 2017 considering that Indonesia is one of the largest archipelagic countries in the world. So, Indonesia can contribute to island and archipelagic countries because they have the same geographical characteristics and challenges.
Apart from these four issues, there are two other challenges, including maritime pollution, connectivity and empowerment of coastal communities.
“Indonesia has many best practices, we don’t want to save them but want to create a global movement where these smart methods can be implemented. We hope that the movement will become more massive so that we can overcome challenges together,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senior Advisor for Climate Governance at the UN Agency for the Indonesian Development Program (UNDP), Abdul Wahid Situmorang, hopes that the solutions offered or collaborated with will be solutions that can be used by all countries, both developing and developed countries.
“Therefore, at the AIS Forum Secretariat, we collect various solutions from stakeholders, we collect them as AISPedia, we use these solutions as a forum for cooperation with island and archipelagic countries,” he said.
