Posted on November, 30 2011

Key decisions affecting the future operation of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) were endorsed by the Third Ministerial Meeting held in Jakarta on 28 October 2011.

After an extensive period of developing the hosting arrangements for a permanent regional secretariat, the CT6 Ministers adopted the Agreement on the Establishment on the CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat and the Rules of Procedure, Staff Regulations and Financial Regulations.

The Ministers also approved the Road Map to a Permanent Regional Secretariat as guidance for CTI-CFF member countries and the interim Regional Secretariat to perform its role and functions.

The member countries will now be required to complete their respective domestic legal processes necessary for their acceptance to effect the “Entry into Force” provision in the Agreement for the establishment of the permanent CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat.

This significant milestone prepares the way forward for the establishment of the Permanent Secretariat in Indonesia.

The Ministers also mandated the interim secretariat to continue its current roles and functions until the permanent secretariat is legally established.

Council of Ministers

Other significant decisions made at the Ministerial Meeting include endorsement of Malaysia as next Chair of the CTI Council of the Ministers for the period of two years (November 2011 – November 2013) and PNG as the Vice Chair.

The CTI Council of Ministers was established in 2009 tohelp maintain the vision of CTI-CFF as a transformative regional initiative and to provide policy direction to the Senior Officials Meetings.

Chairmanship of the Council rotates every two years, as a means of sharing leadership responsibilities. Indonesia was the inaugural Chair and Solomon Islands as Vice Chair.

Coral Triangle Business Council and Forum

Following on from the success of the Coral Triangle Business Forum held in 2010 and 2011, the October CTI-CFF meetings supported the concept of a CTI Business Council and to hold the next Business Forum in Indonesia in 2012.

The rationale for a Business Council is the CTI focus on conservation and economic issues surrounding fisheries and food security; the interest of both government and the private sector to collaborate on CTI goals as seen through the success of the CTI Business Forumand Fishers Forum; and recognition of the need to harness interaction with the private sector in a more organized manner.

The first step towards forming the Business Council is establishing a business advisory group, comprised of private sector champions and appointment of a chairperson, to undertake the tasks of:

1. Developing a proposal on the business council’s role, function, structure and linkages with the CTI;
2. Consultation with CTI governments on priority topics to include in the agendas for boththe council and the next CTI regional business forum ; and
3. Preparation of a concept for presentation at Rio+20 on Blue Economy for CTI.

These preliminary tasks are expected to be completed early in 2012.

CTI-CFF Logo

After many months of deliberations and consultation, the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) now has an official logo.

At least 16 designs were considered by the interim CTI Regional Secretariat and the preferred choice was presented to the Seventh Senior Officials Meeting held in Jakarta 25 - 27 October 2011.

The logo was accepted by the CTI Senior officials and then endorsed by the Third Ministerial Meeting held on 28th October.

The CTI-CFF logo will become the symbol or identity of the initiative and will be used as branding for future CTI-CFF activities.