Indonesia Asks UAE To Improve Partnership Between IORA And Dialogue Partners

JAKARTA, Mar 7 (Antara) - Indonesian government has encouraged the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to improve partnership between member states of the Association of Indian Ocean Rim (IORA) and its dialogue partners. Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi delivered her expectation in a bilateral meeting with her counterpart from UAE, Maitha Salam Al Shamsi. "The UAE is an active member state of IORA. After South Africa, the UAE has led IORA. Therefore, I conveyed several issues related to IORA to the UAE. The first issue was related to partnership between IORA member states and dialogue partners," Marsudi at the Jakarta Convention Center on Monday. The bilateral meeting was conducted on the sidelines of the IORA Ministerial Conference. She stated that IORA member states need to continue and enhance their partnerships with the dialogue partners. "In the IORA ministerial meeting, I encourage the habit of dialogue between IORA member states and dialogue partners, which has been begun last year, both at the level of ministers and high-ranking officials," she noted. She pointed out that the UAE government highly appreciated Indonesia's request and was committed to continue the habit of dialogue. Besides a bilateral meeting with foreign affairs minister of the UAE, Marsudi also held several other bilateral meetings on the sidelines of IORA Ministerial Conference, including a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister of Singapore, Mohamad Maliki Bis Osman; a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister of Comoros Union, Mohamed Bacar Dossar; and another meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister of Mauritius, Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo. The government of Indonesia chaired the IORA meeting, which was attended by the government of South Africa as a vice chairman and the government of Australia as the former chairman of IORA. The theme of IORA Summit is "Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous Indian Ocean." The series of meetings of IORA will be held from March 5 to 7. A high-level officials meeting will be held on March 5 followed by a ministerial meeting on March 6. The IORA Summit will be held on Mar 7. IORA, consisting 21 member states, is the main organization for the Indian Ocean region and plays an important role in strengthening regional security cooperation.