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Published : 04 Nov 2018, 04:48 PM
As per its rules, IORA is led by the chair and vice chair on behalf of the member states. Each term is two years, the foreign ministry said.
The current chair is South Africa and the vice chair is UAE.
The incumbent Vice Chair UAE will take the post of chair in 2019 and Bangladesh will assume the vice chairmanship.
After completion of two years of vice chairmanship, Bangladesh will become the chair of the IORA for the first time on Oct 1, 2021.
During the meeting, the Maldives was accepted as the 22nd member of the IORA. Myanmar also applied for the membership of IORA, but was not approved due to lack of consensus.
During the meeting, the IORA expressed its gratitude to the Bangladesh government for making a special contribution of $5,750 to support the strengthening of the IORA Secretariat.
Bangladesh informed the IORA member states that it would host the ‘Third IORA Blue Economy Ministerial Conference’ in Dhaka in September 2019, which would be the first ever IORA Ministerial level Conference to be organised by Bangladesh.
The 18th IORA Council of Ministers Meeting adopted two outcome documents namely the ‘Declaration on the commemoration of Nelson Mandela’ and the eThekwini Communique which are expected to enhance co-operation among the 21 member states and contribute more in ensuring a peaceful, stable and sustainable Indian Ocean.
This year’s Council of Ministers’ Meeting held in Durban, South Africa on Nov 2 was attended by delegations from IORA’s 21 member states at the ministerial and state ministerial level which included Australia, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore and UAE among others.
The meeting was also attended by seven dialogue partners of the association.
A delegation led by Rear Admiral Md Khurshed Alam, head of the Maritime Affairs Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented Bangladesh at the Council of Ministers’ meeting.
The same delegation also participated at the 20th IORA Meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials held from Oct 31 to Nov 1 at the same venue.
