Press Release: CTI-CFF to promote Public-Private Partnership on Sustainable Fisheries

# CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat hosts the CTI-CFF Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Preparation – Expert-Consultation Meeting on PPP Design and Arrangement” on 4th – 5th April 2018, in Jakarta.

# The activity is aimed at building a better understanding on the PPP investment design and arrangement in sustainable fisheries, including development of catch documentation and traceability (CDT) systems to support the implementation of Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM).

# The activity will also discuss the plan for a big event of CTI-CFF PPP on Sustainable Fisheries in Bali, Indonesia in early 2019.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, 26 March 2018 – The CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development/Regional Development Mission for Asia (USAID/RDMA), will conduct a 2-day “CTI-CFF Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Preparation – Expert-Consultation Meeting on PPP Design and Arrangement” on 4th – 5th April 2018, in Jakarta. This activity is a part of the USAID/CTI collaboration entitled Strengthening Organizational and Administrative Capacity for Improved Fisheries Management (SOACAP IFM). It is designed to promote sustainable fisheries practices in the CTI region, in order to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF), promote sustainable fisheries, and conserve marine biodiversity. One of the main goals of this collaboration is to develop and introduce liable catch documentation and traceability (CDT) system of fisheries and seafood products, where country of import is able to trace the fish and seafood products from their point of catch to the end of their market (value-chain).

Better information system including CDT system is envisioned to assist the CT countries in improving their stock assessment and fisheries economic performances, marine spatial planning, creating international market and export acceptance, and combatting IUUF.

However, development and application of the CDT system and other related fisheries support systems on-the-ground needs investment from the country, which turns out to be a big challenge for the CT member countries as investments in fisheries sectors are considered high-risk. Therefore, it is necessary for countries such as those in the CT region that are global fish suppliers to find alternative approaches to develop investment in fisheries sector.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is globally recognized including by the CTI member countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste) as one of the financial mechanisms to address the challenges in overcoming governmental financial constraints, which allows improvement of quality of services, the effectiveness of cost-risk sharing, and mean faster implementation. All member countries of the CTI-CFF have national PPP modalities e.g. national policy, framework, and implementing institution which support the development of PPP arrangement and projects for public services and infrastructures. Therefore, PPP design and arrangement for the fisheries sectors can be explored and developed from relevant country’s experiences in other development sectors.

This PPP meeting generally aims at building a better understanding of the concept of PPP in sustainable fisheries, and developing better PPP arrangement which allows member countries to actively participate and improve the development of PPP activities related to sustainable fisheries practices. The meeting is envisaged to focus on the development of PPP on catch documentation and traceability (CDT) systems for seafood products and their value-chain, and relevant fisheries information systems to support the implementation of Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) as one of the CTI-CFF Regional Plan of Action (RPOA) goals. The meeting is also expected to discuss plans for a CTI-CFF PPP regional public event in Bali, Indonesia next year.

In addition to representatives of the CTI-CFF member countries, the meeting would be enriched by capable resource persons from the USAID/RDMA, SEAFDEC, the USAID Oceans and Fisheries Partnership, GIZ, WorldFish and JICA. Those resource persons will share their applicable knowledge and experiences in PPP arrangement.

The PPP development in the Coral Triangle region is in line with the guiding principles of the CTI process, as it should be inclusive and engage multiple stakeholders, including private sector companies, bilateral donor agencies, and multilateral agencies. Under the EAFM goals of the RPOA framework, market-based and other economic instruments that include PPP concept and arrangement are encouraged tin order to promote sustainable management of fisheries.

Widi A. Pratikto, Ph.D., the Executive Director of CTI-CFF, said: “The CTI-CFF PPP is expected to become an economic model of development in fisheries sector in the CT region, which is expected to address the challenges in financial constraints, services, and on-ground implementations.”

“Of course, it requires all CT6 NCCs intervention to have ample capacity and competency to adopt the PPP concept and develop business partnerships including mobility of business concerns and potentials within sustainable fisheries sectors,” added Widi.

At the same time, in the framework of the U.S. Agency for International Development Oceans and Fisheries Partnership (USAID Oceans), a collaboration between USAID and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) – PPP becomes one of the work streams which is expected to bring participation of private sectors such as industries in partnership with governments to improve sustainable fisheries practices, in particular application of Catch Documentation and Traceability (CDT) systems and Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM).

The event is also expected to provide a general PPP framework to member countries to develop economic performances in their fisheries sectors for the long-term.

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About CTI-CFF

The Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI -CFF) is a multilateral partnership of six countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste (CT6). The CT6 countries work together to conserve marine resources and coastal, and focus on some key issues such as food security, climate change, and marine biodiversity. CTI-CFF was established formally in the Leaders’ Summit in 2009 with approval of the leaders of the CT6 countries and they adopted the CTI Regional Plan of Action (CTI RPOA) which is a strategic action plan that consists of (i) Management of seascapes, (ii) an ecosystem-based fisheries management, (iii) marine protected areas, (iv) climate change adaptation, and (v) management of threatened species.

About Regional Secretariat

The Regional Secretariat (RS) of the CTI-CFF is mandated to promote regional cooperation, knowledge sharing, and learning facilities within the six member countries of the Coral Triangle. The RS coordinates and monitors the progress of the implementation of the Regional Plan of Action (RPOA) goals. The RS coordinates and supports official meetings and events linked to the CTI-CFF process, including cross-cutting services in support of monitoring and evaluation, financial coordination, information management and outreach. It also coordinates the implementation of CTI-CFF RPOA and provides support to, and coordination with, NCCs, including advising the CTI-CSO on emerging opportunities and priorities to reaching the goals and targets of the RPOA. The RS also acts as the channel of communication and information sharing and foster networking among the Parties, CTI Partners and other organizations and donors in the efforts to promote the objectives of the CTI-CFF. The Regional Secretariat is based in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

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Contact:

• Ms. Destyariani L. Putri
• (or Dr. M. Lukman)
• CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat
• dlputri@cticff.org
• Further information visit: http://coraltriangleinitiative.org/events/cti-cffusaid-workplan-activity-21-cti-cff-ppp-preparation-technical-program-jakarta-indonesia#intro