REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia's Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sharif Cicip Sutardjo has called on the global community to pay serious attention to marine resources by adopting the concept of "blue economy".

The concept could be materialized by changing the direction of development policies to keep the balance between economic growth and environmental conservation, he said in a written statement on Sunday.

The "blue growth" initiative was one of the ways to preserve marine and fishery resources in a sustainable manner to increase income and open job opportunities for the people, Sutardjo said. He added that the initiative, which was incorporated to the institutional framework of sustainable development by strengthening the pillars of natural resources and action plans, was agreed upon at the Voluntary Global Alliance meeting held in Jakarta on September 10, 2014. At the meeting the global alliance declared Indonesia as the axis of the global blue growth, he said.

In addition, the alliance was also of the view that Indonesia had played an active role in international forums by taking strategic steps to start concrete actions with regard to blue growth fundamentals. The concrete actions were reflected by Indonesia's participation at various global forums including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro and Asia Conference on Ocean Food Security and Blue Growth (ACOFB).

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