THE purpose of the third meet­ing of the Coastal Resources Management Central Commit­tee was to clarify the realization of the resolutions of the first and the second meetings of the Cen­tral Committee and continued implementation of the future work programme laid down, said State Administration Council Vice-Chairman Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win, in his capacity as the Chair­man of Coastal Resources Man­agement Central Committee.

The Vice-Senior General continued that the government regard coastal resources as po­tentials for sustainable develop­ment of the country, that it aims to manage them for the sake of posterity, and that, in doing so, it will act in conformity with the de­velopment policies and theories of the countries in the region and the world.

The United Nations is imple­menting the seventeen objectives of sustainable development goals and it is found that the countries in the region are putting the Blue Economy theories into action, added the Vice-Senior General.

The Blue Economy is to enhance socio-economic devel­opment and wealth through al­leviation of climate change and application of sea and ocean re­sources, explained the Vice-Sen­ior General. The Blue Economy is to protect and restablish nat­ural resources.

The Vice-Senior General elaborated that Myanmar has a 2,800-kilometre-long coastal line, possesses one-fifth of the ecosystem of the Bay of Bengal and has the potential for pearl culture, fishing and extraction of offshore oil and natural gas, de­velopment of international ports and the exclusive economic zone and renewable energy like wind energy. The Blue Economy has its advantages as well as chal­lenges. It is necessary to prevent the destruction of biodiversity, coral reefs, and mangroves and to systematically manage the disposal of plastics, e-waste and agricultural waste.

Myanmar is included in the list of countries for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and is in the Bangladesh-China-India-Myan­mar economic corridor and at the focal point of South Asia and Southeast Asia.

The Vice-Senior General went on to say that, in imple­menting the development of the policies of the Blue Economy, it is necessary not only to focus on economic opportunities but also to tackle the challenges effectively and the government is trying to create sound foun­dations for the implementation of the Blue Economy based on sustainable coastal development. He also said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environ­mental Conservation is drafting the Integrated Coastal Manage­ment-ICM of Myanmar based on six strategic tasks.

As the central committee and work committee members’ suggestions are being analyz­ed for approval, the Integrated Coastal Management will be ap­proved soon.

The emergence of ICM in Myanmar will be a reference for strategic guidelines of coastal and marine resources multiple management and blue economic development measures.

Being an ASEAN state, My­anmar needs to implement rel­evant action plans for enabling the blue economy declaration of ASEAN leaders for the ex­hortation to emphasize the de­velopment of ASEAN peoples in post-Covid-19 released by the 38^th ASEAN Summit held on 26 October 2021 to link with regional development plans.

The Vice-Senior General urged all to strive for the con­servation of coastal areas and marine resources under the re­gional plans and cooperate in coastal and marine resources conservation tasks.

Director-General U Htay Aung of the Forest Department, on behalf of the central commit­tee secretary, reported on the accomplishment of assignments and tasks.

The Vice-Senior General then gave supplementary advice and attended to the needs of the Union minister, region and state chief ministers and officials, and made a concluding remark.

MNA

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