US wishes to conduct studies on submarine life in RI

Manado, (ANTARA News) – The United States would like to send a research ship to Indonesia to conduct studies of submarine life in the country`s waters, the US envoy to Indonesia said.

A US request for permission to do the submarine studies was forwarded to the Indonesian government some time ago but it was rejected. But the US government was now again trying to obtain the permission, US ambassador to Indonesia Cameron Hume said here Monday.

He made the statement at a meeting with the local committee for the World Ocean Conference (WOC) and officials of the North Sulawesi provincial administration here on Monday.

The meeting was attended by the head of the Regional Development Planning Board, L Londong, the secretary of the local WOC committee, Dr Noldy Tuerah, US consul general in Surabaya Caryn Mc Lelland and other local officials.

Hume said the studies were essential to efforts to collect knowledge about potential submarine natural resources that could support human life.

Hume said the cost of sending the ship with all its equipment to Indonesia would be as high as US$4 million but the benefits to be derived from the research would far outweigh the expenditure.

Regarding the World Ocean Conference next year, Hume said there were two important things it was expected to discuss, namely marine environmental matters and international marine cooperation.

Meanwhile, Dr Noldy Tuareh said the conference would be held from May 11 to 15 in Manado and be attended by representatives of countries that have marine and coastal territories, marine researchers and non-governmental organizations.(*)