Major Steps Achieved Toward Establishment of Permanent CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat

Three CTI-CFF countries took significant steps this month toward ratification of the Agreement for the establishment of the permanent CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat.

Most recently, on March 25, Dr. Sudirman Saad, Executive Director of Indonesia’s CTI-CFF National Coordination Committee (NCC-Indonesia), issued an official announcement of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s signing of a decree that constitutes Indonesia’s instrument of ratification of the Agreement. The March 11 signing cemented the Indonesian President’s legacy as the earliest champion of the CTI-CFF. In a letter to other leaders in 2007, President Yudhoyono proposed a new multilateral initiative to focus on addressing the alarming decline of marine resources in the Coral Triangle. This proposal opened the multilateral talks that led to the formation of the CTI-CFF.

The month began on a high note as the Philippines signified formal support for the establishment of the Regional Secretariat, with Philippine Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje affixing his signature to the Agreement document on March 4. The document was personally presented to Secretary Paje by a delegation from the CTI-CFF Interim Regional Secretariat (IRS) led by its Chair, Prof.  Sjarief Widjaja, Ph.D. FRINA, who traveled to Manila especially for the signing.

The event also provided the delegation with the opportunity for a productive meeting with members of NCC-Philippines, who vowed continued effort to achieve ratification. Philippine law requires at least ratification by the President, and may further require Senate concurrence.

On March 19, a joint Indonesian delegation from the IRS, Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs (MMAF) Fisheries Human Resources Development Agency and the Coral Triangle Center visited Timor-Leste for consultations on the ratification process. The visit, the second such Indonesian mission since February, was a follow-through to an offer from the MMAF to provide needs-based training and other capacity building assistance to Timor Leste under the CTI-CFF multilateral cooperation framework.

MMAF’s Dr. Suseno Sukoyono and IRS Coordinator Arwandrija Rukma met with Timor Leste’s Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Mariano Assanami Sabino and Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Constancio Da Conceição Pinto to discuss ways by which the IRS can help facilitate the ratification of the Agreement. As a result of this meeting, NCC-Timor Leste, assisted by Conservation International, is translating from English to Portuguese the 45-page Agreement document to support the Timor Leste Council of Ministers’ deliberations on its ratification and thus accelerate the process. Approval by the Council of Ministers is required for ratification.

Ratification by at least four of the six CTI-CFF member-countries is needed for the Agreement to enter into force.

The CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat will be headquartered in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, in a building the Indonesian Government built especially for this purpose.