Bernama 29 Oct 11;
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 (Bernama) -- The 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) has elected Malaysia to chair the Coral Triangle Initiative Council of Ministers (CTI-COM) for a two-year term effective on Nov 20.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili has accepted the chairmanship from outgoing chairman, Indonesia's Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Sharif Cicip Sutarardjo, at the CTI-CFF in Jakarta Friday.
According to a statement from Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry here, Ongkili said Malaysia was committed to the initiative to sustainably preserve, protect and develop the rich marine resources in the CTI region.
"The chairmanship will be a challenge especially as the CTI is in the transition process of establishing a permanent regional secretariat, and in its quest to achieve sustainable financing of its initatives," he said at the CTI-CFF.
He assured that Malaysia would provide its leadership and direction towards achieving the CTI goals of promoting long-term economic growth while sustaining environmental health for the resource-rich region.
Ongkili also put forward Malaysia's proposal for the setting up of a CTI-CFF Business Council, which was endorsed by the Council of Ministers in its joint statement.
"The establishment of the Business Council is timely as member countries have expressed the need to engage the private sector to enhance private sector participation in sustainable development of resources through public-private partnership arrangement," he said.
The meeting was attended by ministers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines, The Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.
-- BERNAMA
