A Message of The CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat Towards Fruitful of 2016
The Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) is a multilateral partnership between the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste (the ‘CT6’) with a view of working together to sustain extraordinary marine and coastal resources by addressing crucial issues such as food security, climate change and marine biodiversity. the CTI-CFF was officially established along with its Secretariat during the Summit of Heads of States of CT6 in 2009 as stated in "CTI Leader's Declaration"
Since its establishment, the CTI-CFF was functioned by the Interim Regional Secretariat with a view for implementing process of CTI-CFF activities based in the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries in Jakarta, Indonesia. At the early stage, the Interim Regional Secretariat was administered by Directorate General for Marine, Coasts and Small Islands of Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia through Transition Team as well as by Secretariat Coordinator and Technical Working Group Coordinator prior to appointment of CTI-CFF Executive Director.
As time passing by, the CTI-CFF has made substantial, solid progress in a number of fields and areas. The gradual but steady progress in the organizational development is for example reflected in the formal establishment of the Permanent Regional Secretariat of CTI-CFF since the very first appointment of the Executive Director on 1 April 2015. the Secretariat serves as the central coordinating mechanism for all CTI-CFF activities. The CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat is mandated to promote regional cooperation, sharing of lessons, and facilitate learning across the six Coral Triangle countries. The Regional Secretariat (RS) also coordinates and monitors the progress in achieving the CTI-CFF Regional Plan of Action (RPOA) goals.
In 2015, the Regional Secretariat has achieved development in several activities, among others, such as signing of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), Coral Triangle Center (CTC) and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Furthermore, the Executive Director was also had a number of working visits to several potential institutions for further strengthening the CTI-CFF and its Secretariat, among others, were Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), GIZ, International Climate Initiative (ICI/IKI), Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), KfW and “Development aid" located in Boon, Germany for possible cooperation in technical support for CCA priority actions. Subsequently, the Executive Director also had courtesy meetings with Director General of Climate Change and Director General of International Cooperation and Development from European Commission in Brussel, Belgium for the same purpose.
Other development was the discussion on the inclusion of Brunei Darussalam as a new member state of the CTI-CFF during the 11th Senior Official Meeting held on 2-3 December 2015 in Manado, Indonesia. It may be noted that the Meeting endorsed Brunei Darussalam as a new member of CTI-CFF subject to the submission of the Head of State’s adoption to the CTI Leaders’ Declaration on CTI-CFF; and the submission of the Instrument of Accession to the Agreement on the Establishment of CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat to the Depository. In addition, Regional Secretariat have finalized and signed the Host Country Agreement with Indonesian Government as a host country for Regional Secretariat of CTI-CFF on 1 December 2015.
The year of 2015 has been marked as a solid momentum for the CTI-CFF and the Regional Secretariat in laying down groundwork for further activities. It is hoped that in 2016 Regional Secretariat enhance more fruitful collaborations including continuous engagement with CTI-CFF Development Partners.
The Regional Secretariat expresses its high gratitude and appreciation to Council of Ministers, Senior Officials, CTI-CFF Developments Partners and CTI-CFF's counterparts for continuing and valuable supports towards implementing CTI-CFF goals as amended in the RPOA. In line with this, the Regional Secretariat look to the future of the CTI-CFF with hopeful eyes for fruitful year of 2016, including our imminent moving of Regional Secretariat office from temporary base in Jakarta to Manado as permanent headquarter.
The Initiative, in its entirety, enjoys tremendous potentials in various fields and areas. The CTI-CFF community, collectively, should be able to devise ways and means to tap them effectively and actualize them towards advancing the state of cooperation and make a meaningful contribution to conservation and ensure sustainability of marine and coastal resources within the CTI-CFF Member States.
As final forward thoughts, of equal importance, the Initiative needs to develop a long-term mechanism for sustainable regional cooperation in coral and marine affairs. It is believed that this is quite a big challenge for the CTI-CFF community.
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