The Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Forum is a forum for cooperation between island and archipelagic countries around the world which aims to strengthen collaboration to overcome global problems in four main areas, namely climate change mitigation and adaptation, blue economy, handling plastic waste in the sea, and governance. good maritime. The AIS Forum Summit was held to strengthen the AIS Forum’s role as a center for smart and innovative solutions, as well as a platform for mutual cooperation in pushing forward the future agenda for global ocean governance.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially opened the Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Forum Summit which was held in Bali. Jokowi said Indonesia was honored to host this activity.
“Welcome to Bali, Indonesia is honored to host the historic momentum of the first AIS Forum Summit, a forum to strengthen collaboration between archipelagic countries and island countries connected by the sea. The sea does not separate land, but the sea actually unites land. The sea actually glues and connects land,” said Jokowi as seen on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube account, Wednesday (11/10/ 2023).
Jokowi reminded us that what we have in common with archipelagic countries is that they have challenges with a number of issues regarding the management of marine resources. Therefore, he invited countries at the AIS Forum Summit to collaborate in solving problems related to island countries.
“As fellow archipelagic and island countries, regardless of whether they are big or small, regardless of being developed or developing, we share complex challenges that are interrelated and interconnected with each other, such as sea level rise, marine resource governance, and marine pollution. said Jokowi.
The 2023 Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Forum High Level Conference (Summit) in Nusa Dua, Bali, resulted in four points of cooperation between Indonesia and the archipelagic and small island countries that are members of the AIS Forum. These four points are summarized in one area, namely maritime technology innovation.
Jokowi said the four points were climate change mitigation and adaptation, implementation of the blue economy, protection of marine ecosystems, and progress in marine governance. It is hoped that the innovations from the four points of cooperation can be implemented immediately. The goal is to create positive benefits for fishermen. Fishermen, continued Jokowi, really depend on the sea for their livelihood.
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said that there were other cooperation priorities that would also be produced during the 2023 AIS Forum Summit. Among other things, regarding the tourism ecosystem or ecotourism and marine waste. Retno said that the countries participating in the AIS Summit agreed on a declaration which included two things. Namely, an agreement to increase cooperation which is handled directly by the government in the context of the AIS forum. There will be an international organization that will emerge from this cooperation agreement. For this reason, the leaders of island countries through their ministers are encouraged to immediately form a road map.
Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar said forestry issues were also discussed during the 2023 AIS Forum Summit in Bali. Namely, the role of countries participating in the AIS forum that have forests in controlling climate change. More specifically, Siti mentioned mangrove forests as important in overcoming climate change. Moreover, mangroves in island areas usually start from the coast, spreading to the mainland.
October 11, 2023, detikNews
(https://news.detik.com/berita/d-6976004/buka-ktt-ais-forum-di-bali-jokowi-ajak-kolaborasi-atasi-masalah-kelautan)
(https://www.detik.com/bali/berita/d-6977379/ktt-ais-forum-2023-sepakati-kerja-sama-inovasi-teknologi-maritim-hingga-mangrove)