MNA � The 7th Bi-annual Meeting of Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) has opened in Bali, Indonesia, with an Iranian delegation in attendance.


Majid Bizmark, Director General for International Environmental and Sustainable Development Affairs, is representing Iran in the two-day CSO meeting hosted by Indonesia, the current Chairman of IORA, with the support of the IORA Secretariat.

The meeting is attended by senior officials from 21 Member States of the IORA, including Iran, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, South Africa, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

China, Egypt, Japan, UK, France and Germany also cooperate with the Association.

The 7th biannual meeting of Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) will focus on the follow up actions of the First IORA Leaders' Summit and related meetings which was held in Jakarta in March 2017 including IORA Action Plan where Member States will discuss on the way forward for its implementation. A number of actions/projects under short, medium and long term initiatives have been identified by the Member States for implementation within five years to achieve the objectives set for 2021 in the IORA Action Plan which was agreed by the Ministers at their COM meeting held in Jakarta in March 2017.

The meeting will also consider important issues and preparations for the Council of Ministers Meeting in October 2017 in Durban which include the future engagement with Dialogue Partners, international and regional organizations; new project proposals by Member States; and financial management including the IORA Special Fund.