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| Saturday, 28 August 2004 |
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IOR-ARC to expand cooperation by Nadira Gunatilleke The ministers of the IOR-ARC agreed to create a special fund to finance projects and programs, focused on priorities, intra-regional tourism and cooperation in fisheries, commence negotiations for an IOR-ARC Preferential Trade Agreement, and e-commerce in the region, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said yesterday. Addressing the media at the Foreign Ministry yesterday, Minister Kadirgamar said they have also agreed to consider modalities for having an IOR-ARC Business Travel Card to facilitate business travel within the IOR-ARC region. The council also agreed to upgrade the level of interaction with the Dialogue Partners China, Egypt, France, Japan and United Kingdom. While agreeing to make IOR-ARC project driven, the Ministerial Council approved a proposal by the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister for a clustering process that will enable a minimum of five member States to formulate and implement projects under the ambit of IOR-ARC with a view to having a fast track and result oriented approach. The ministers agreed to have a brainstorming session to further advance the IOR-ARC work program at the next council meeting. The Council also unanimously agreed to appoint T.Z.A. Samsudeen, a senior Sri Lankan foreign service officer as the next Executive Director of the IOR-ARC Secretariat based in Mauritius. The Academic Group, a `Think Tank' for IOR-ARC decided to intensify interaction with the Business Forum and the Working Group on Trade and Investment in order to avoid overlapping and duplication of activities among the three groups. The Academic Group further made a self-assessment of the past seven years and looked at future activities and its role. The Business Forum during its deliberations agreed to adopt a fast track approach and the formulation of a clearer interface mechanism between the Business Forum and the Working Group on Trade and Investment with a view to providing a platform for business community to interact productivity with policy makers. The Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI) agreed among other measures to recommend the finalisation of an IOR-ARC Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) by the interested member States, and that it will be open for other members to accede to it at a time convenient to them. The IOR-ARC meeting was attended by 143 foreign delegates from 18 member states in the Indian Ocean Rim. Among the delegates were Foreign Ministers of India, Singapore, Mozambique and Deputy Ministers of Malaysia, South Africa and Iran including the Kenyan Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister. Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE and Yemen are the current members of the IOR-ARC. China, Egypt, France, Japan and the UK are dialogue partners with the Indian Tourism Organisation having observer status. The IOR-ARC was initially launched in Mauritius with seven members in March 1997. Sri Lanka held the IOR-ARC chairmanship from 2003 to 2004 and Iran will host the IOR-ARC meeting next year in Tehran. |
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