PRIMEX News

RETA 7307 Inception Workshop
draws 'impressive', 'assertive'
participation from CT6 countries

Posted on October 2010

Designed as the second key activity of the RETA 7307 regional technical assistance project, the Inception Workshop held on 29-30 July 2010 was both a presentation and a review of the Consultant Team’s draft Project Inception Report and a venue for participating countries to voice their insights on how the project should move forward.

The workshop had 32 participants composed of representatives of the National Coordinating Committees (NCCs) of the CT6 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands) and the interim CTI Secretariat, development partners (DPs) (ADB, United States Agency for International Development [USAID], the United States CTI Support Program [CTSP], WorldFish Center [WFC], and the Worldwide Fund for Nature [WWF]), and the Consultant Team.

The workshop consisted of plenary sessions and two group discussions on (i) levelling of expectations on knowledge products and National Plan of Action (NPOA) implementation strategies; and (ii) team planning, with focus on the needs assessment and validation phase.

At the opening session, Dr. Gellwynn Jusuf, Vice-Chairman of the CTI Interim Regional Secretariat in Indonesia, said the challenges that the CT6 countries were facing in ensuring the sustainability of coastal ecosystems and marine communities required them to change their inward looking approach to work together harmoniously, "despite the diverse strengths of each country in knowledge management."

Mr. Javed Mir, Director of the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environment Division of ADB's Southeast Asia Department, reiterated ADB's commitment to the CTI and said that this project is a major building block for the long-term investment in human resources that needs to be in place for the CT6 to achieve their vision. "The TA should keep in mind the big picture of addressing sustainable development and poverty reduction and the principle of harmonization while embracing diversity," Mr. Mir said.

The workshop had several key outcomes, including: (i) agreement among the CTI stakeholders on the RETA’s focus on knowledge management (KM)/communication and policy/institutional support in three technical subject matter areas of (a) sustainable finance; (b) economics studies in support of policy and sustainable financing, including payment for ecosystem services (PES), coastal valuation, and economics of climate change; and (c) the preparation of the State of the Coral Triangle Report (SCTR); (ii) alignment of the RETA with agreed CTI regional priorities; and (iii) agreement that the needs assessment work to be conducted by the Consultant will be country-specific and responsive to each country’s requirements.

Noting how countries clearly expressed their needs and how they wanted to engage with ADB and the TA team, Ms. Maria Lourdes Drilon, ADB Natural Resources Economist and RETA 7307 project officer, said that deadlines can be negotiated, and ADB was willing to set a breathable time frame for the project activities.

“I am very pleased with the openness of the discussions and was very impressed with the assertiveness of the countries,” she said at the concluding segment of the Workshop.

RETA 7307, or Regional Cooperation on Knowledge Management, Policy and Institutional Support to the Coral Triangle Initiative, envisions the strengthened management of coastal and marine ecosystems in the Coral Triangle by strengthening regional policy dialogue and coordination among national governments and regional entities, in relation to cross-border issues directly affecting the sustainability of the economy of the six countries in the Coral Triangle (CT6) composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor–Leste. (Arvin Yana/PRIMEX News)

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