• News
  • admin
  • 01 Mar 2012


 The groundbreaking ceremony of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) Regional Secretariat Office was held on Saturday, January 28, 2012, in Manado, North Sulawesi. The construction of the CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat compound is the realization of the 2009 Fifth Senior Officials Meeting (SOM5) and Second Ministerial Meeting (MM2) resolutions, which established Indonesia as the host of the CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat.

As part of the Government of Indonesia’s commitment to the CTI-CFF, it has allocated around US$5.5 million to support the Regional Secretariat office construction. The facility will be built on roughly 21,000 square meters of land provided by the Provincial Government of North Sulawesi. The compound will consist of a five-story building for various offices, as well as a six-story building that will house laboratories, a library, an aquarium, and other facilities open to the public.

In line with Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono initiative, the Regional Secretariat office will be the center of  coordination, facilitation, and collaboration among the six CTI-CFF member countries and their partners. The office will manage daily operations and activities to ensure that efforts to maintain coastal, fisheries, and marine resources in the region are well-coordinated and effective. Construction is expected to be completed within 14 months, in time for the formal inauguration of the permanent CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat in 2013.

The ceremony was attended by Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare, H.R. Agung Laksono; Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Sharif C. Sutardjo; and Governor of North Sulawesi Province, Sinyo H. Sarundajang. In his remarks, Minister Agung Laksono expressed hope that the establishment of the CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat would be followed by increased collaborative activities among the six CTI member countries. Minister Sharif C. Sutardjo reiterated that, with more than 500 coral species found in the region, coral reefs play a crucial role in supporting the sustainability of various marine resources. Governor Sinyo H. Sarundajang added that North Sulawesi—along with six other Indonesian provinces (East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, North Maluku, Bangka, Belitung, and Riau)—is composed largely of islands, and he hoped that the CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat would help ensure that people and marine resources in these areas can thrive together sustainably.

Photo Captions

Upper Right: (L-R) Indonesia Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono, North Sulawesi Governor Sinyo Sarundajang, and Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif Sutardjo at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Lower Left: Scale model of the planned CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat building.

Credits: MMAF Indonesia