CTI-CFF Confirms the Establishment of Its Regional Secretariat by 30 November 2014

Jakarta, Indonesia

After the acceptance by Indonesia, the depository country of ratification instrument of Agreement on the Establishment of the Regional Secretariat of the Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) submitted by its 4 member countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste the date for the agreement’s entry into force has been ascertained to be on November 30, 2014. The six-member countries of the CTI CFF confirmed the entry into force of the agreement on the establishment of its regional secretariat. 

The confirmation was made during the 10th CTI-CFF Senior Officials Meeting (SOM-10) which was held in Dili, Timor-Leste from November 5-7, 2014 and attended by senior government officials from CTI-CFF member countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste - as well as representatives from various development partner organizations and Brunei Darussalam who has expressed its interest to join this regional initiative.

Prof. Sjarief Widjaja, Chairman of the Interim Regional Secretariat (IRS) of the CTI CFF said “this entry into force of the establishment regional secretariat is great momentum to step forward into developing strong permanent regional secretariat which will be able to provide more benefits towards sustaining the marine resources of its member states.

Prof. Widjaja added significant progress has been made in ratifying the agreement and subsequently appreciated the ratification made by Malaysia (15 April 2013), Indonesia (9 May 2014), Solomon Islands (8 October 2014) and Timor Leste (31 October 2014). He also highlighted the progress made by the Philippines and Papua New Guinea in signing the Agreement on the Establishment of the Regional Secretariat of the CTI-CFF.

As part of the its commitment to host the CTI-CFF as well as its commitment to support coral reefs conservation areas that have the highest marine biodiversity in the world, the Government of Indonesia has built the new CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat Building and CTI Center. This building complex is located in Manado in the historical site where the leaders of the six Coral Triangle countries came together for the CTI Summit and World Ocean Conference in 2009.

Prof. Widjaja said the Government of Indonesia has invested USD 5.5 million in the construction of the center covering 6,084 square meters. Apart from this, the Indonesian Government has also set aside 15,000 square meters of land for the center's expansion and supporting facilities. The CTI Center has been designed and built for the purpose of central coordination, facilitation and collaboration of the six CTI member countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and The Solomon Islands and CTI-CFF partners that align with Indonesia's initiatives.