Pertemuan ke 5 Tingkat Menteri AIS Forum, BNDCC Nusa Dua, Bali, 10 Oktober 2023

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Welcome to the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Archipelagic and Island States Forum in Bali, Indonesia. In just one day, we will be conducting the first high-level meeting of the Archipelagic and Island States Forum. The meeting is both timely and historical. The reality of our world today is grim. Triple planetary crises, namely climate change and rising sea level, marine pollution and biodiversity loss, represent an existential danger to our society. Meanwhile, multilateral efforts to manage this crisis remain sluggish. Rivalries, global conflict and distrust are taking hostage of our global cooperation and vulnerable countries, including small island developing countries, will be the first victims. Therefore, Indonesia and all of us choose the right way, choose the right path of cooperation and solidarity inclusively. This is an urgent time for us as an Archipelagic and Island States to stand in solidarity and work together. ISORO must become a lighthouse which guides our pathway forward to develop inclusive and impactful cooperation and protect our future generation. Today, I will share two main keys to you toward this goal. First, ensuring solidarity between Archipelagic and Island States. The global pandemic has taught us a hard lesson that nobody is safe until everyone is. Our shared challenges are unprecedented. The only path toward solution is solidarity. ISORO must continue to produce innovative efforts to ensure the sustainability of our ocean in addressing the triple planetary crisis. We must continue ensuring tangible result of our four key areas, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, blue economy and ecotourism, marine and coastal plastic debris and good maritime governance. Second, maintaining synergy with other initiatives at the global stage. As a complementary forum, ISORO must engage intensively with other relevant fora across the region. The forum must also be able to strengthen its governance in order to increase its impact. The high-level meeting of ISORO will be a landmark avenue laying the foundation toward synergizing solution in tackling global challenges. The ISORO must continue to develop to become a bridge of common effort in connecting open-ended and inclusive development framework and transform initiatives into realities.