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Member States of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) will hold the third IORA Blue Economy Ministerial Conference (BEC-III) in Dhaka on September 4-5 to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and employment opportunities in the Indian Ocean belt.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the ministerial conference titled “Promoting Sustainable Blue Economy- making the best use of opportunities from the Indian Ocean” on Thursday morning, said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reports UNB.
IORA ministers and heads of delegation will jointly meet Prime Minister Hasina after the inaugural session of the ministerial conference at Hotel InterContinental. The conference will be preceded by a working session to be held Wednesday to discuss the ways and means to strengthen Blue Economy implementation. The working session will include several discussion sessions on different aspects of the blue economy.
These are sustainable fisheries and aquaculture – enhancing regional cooperation for mariculture and capacity building of the fishers; harvesting sustainably – ‘Our Blue Opportunities & Ocean Governance; exploiting untapped potential resources- exploration and exploitation of resources from sea/seabed and creating value from the resources through R&D, potentials for development of blue economy in the Indian Ocean Rim; connecting to the gateway of blue economy- enhancing maritime logistics facilities, coastal shipping and port network and connectivity, and turning to the ocean for value.
The first and the second IORA Ministerial Conferences on Blue Economy have set out a foundation to elaborate strategic areas for cooperation on ocean-based growth in the Indian Ocean, organizers said.
To continue with that momentum, this is the time to further nurture various areas of blue economy such as aquaculture, marine tourism, private sector’s involvement in infrastructure, port network, financial inclusion, the sustainable exploration and exploitation of various living and non-living resources from the seas and tackling the menace of marine pollution and plastic debris, they said.
Discussions will be aimed at mapping the works that already have been done and also further works that need to be undertaken to secure inclusive and balanced promotion, protection and conservation of the marine resources in the Indian Ocean.
The ministerial conference will adopt the Dhaka Declaration and other outcome documents aimed to illustrate the commitment of IORA Member States to further strengthen and deepen cooperation on Blue Economy priority areas in the years ahead.
The IORA Member States are Australia, Bangladesh, Union of Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozam-bique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
(NA)
