A delegation from the Maldives has participated in the 11th bi-annual meeting of the committee of senior officials of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), which took place virtually from June 15-16, 2021. The meeting was attended by the 23 member states of IORA, the acting Secretary General and 10 specialized agencies.
The bi-annual meeting took note of the progress made since December 2020 under the six priority areas and two cross-cutting areas of the association. The six priority areas of IORA are: Maritime Safety and Security; Trade and Investment Facilitation; Fisheries Management; Disaster Risk Management; Academic and Scientific Cooperation; and Tourism Promotion and Cultural Exchanges. The two cross-cutting areas are: Women’s Economic Empowerment and Blue Economy.
The member states also provided updates on the preparations for forthcoming events and meetings of IORA’s institutional mechanisms, as well as IORA’s engagement with its dialogue partners, international partners and special programmes, considering the ongoing impact of COVID-19.
The meeting of the IORA’s Sub-Committee on Finance was held on June 9, 2021 in the lead up to the meeting. The sub-committee discussed issues related to good governance and financial management of the IORA Secretariat.
The meeting of the committee of senior officials was chaired by Abdulnasser Alshaali, the Assistant Minister for Economic and Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the UAE. UAE assumed the position of Chair of IORA in November 2019, with the theme, “Promoting a Shared Destiny and Path to Prosperity in the Indian Ocean”.
IORA is an intergovernmental regional organization providing a forum for member states and dialogue partners to enhance socio-economic cooperation. Maldives joined the IORA in 2019 as its 22nd member state.