16 Heads of States to Attend IORA Summit in Jakarta

Australia handed over the chairmanship of IORA to Indonesia in 2015. Indonesia becomes IORA Chairman for 2015-2017.period.

Jakarta, 04 Jumadil Awwal 1438/03 March 2017 (MINA) – As many as 16 heads of states have confirmed their participation in the 16th Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) summit in Jakarta on March 7, 2017.

“Based on the latest update, I can confirm that the representatives from 21 IORA member states will be attending the summit, including 16 VVIP guests consisting of presidents, vice presidents, and prime ministers,” Antara quoted Foreign Ministry’s Director General for Asia-Pacific and African affairs Desra Percaya as saying here on Thursday.

Among the heads of states attending the summit are five presidents, four vice presidents, four prime ministers, and three deputy prime ministers.

South African President Jacob Zuma, Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull are included on the list of leaders participating in the IORA Summit.

The series of meeting of IORA Summit will take place from March 5 to 7, starting with the high official meeting (SOM) on March 5, ministerial meeting on March 6, and concluding with the summit on March 7.

The summit will be held under the theme “Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous Indian Ocean.”

As part of the event, there will also be an IORA Business Summit which will be attended by 250 international businessmen from IORA member states.

The theme for the business summit is “Building Partnership for Sustainable and Equitable Economic Growth.”

“In this business meeting, President Joko Widodo is scheduled to deliver a speech,” Percaya noted. (T/RS05/RS01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)