IORA Ministers' meet kicks off today

Ministers of 13 member countries arrived in Dhaka to kick off today the 22nd Council of Ministers' (COM) meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
Current chair Bangladesh, is hosting the  meeting.
A two-day 24th meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO), held at a city hotel beginning Tuesday, discussed developing a mechanism for adopting big projects, prevent piracy, armed robbery, unregulated fishing and disaster management.
Decisions taken at the CSO meeting will be placed in the IORA Council of Ministers' meeting.
"We want free, inclusive, secure and peaceful navigation for all without any encumbrance in the region," said Momen.
He said priority areas for the IORA include- maritime safety and security; trade and investment facilitation, fisheries management, disaster risk management, tourism and cultural exchanges; academic, scientific and technological cooperation, blue economy and women's economic empowerment.
He laid emphasis on making the best use of the sea in a more "regulated, progressive and scientific" manner.
"In future, we will take big projects to maximize gains," he said.
He said, the participating Foreign Ministers, state ministers and assistant ministers will jointly meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Currently, no project bigger than worth $ 80,000 can be taken, it would be possible to take big projects if the IORA Development Initiative was approved, said officials.
The IORA is an inter-governmental organisation,  established on March7, 1997.
It has 23 members and 10 dialogue partners.
The Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) expressed deepest condolences to the people and the government of Indonesia over the powerful earthquake that recently struck Cianjur, West Java, causing loss of many lives and leaving many others injured.