While welcoming the gathering, Satinder Bindra the Director of the Division of Communications and Public Information hoped that the meet would ensure success in Mexico, later in the year. This was the first meeting after COP15 in Copenhagen and so the meeting held great promise.

As Mr Archim Stenier the UNEP Executive Director said in his welcome to the President, that the beauty of Bali influenced our mentality to work towards the goal of this conference which is One Planet: Our responsibility.

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Bali according to Steiner has set a new direction for the UN Environment programme. What needs to move forward if financing and action on the ground to ensure the health of our planet. This meeting sets an example that multilateralism can and will work. The South East Asian region is home to the coral triangle which is just 1% of the surface of the earth but also most importantly ¾ of the worlds species of corals are found here. These reefs buffer 120 million people from cyclonic storms and tornados. Therefore UNEP was giving Indonesia an Award for Marine Conservation and Management for the pioneering work done in the area.

The President of Indonesia Dr.H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he was pleased to be speaking in the same historic hall where the Bali Road Map had been formulated in 2007. He hoped the ambience of his country helped toward making a better agreement with a target for sustainable development. He felt that the future of the oceans should be brought into the Climate Change regime, which could be considered as the Amazon of the oceans. Here in Indonesia he said the country had decided to plant ‘one person one tree’ with a billion trees to be dedicated to the planet. This movement he said will absorb millions of tonnes of carbon by 2020, which is a great move from the business as usual attitude. This of course could be achieved only with international assistance. He was disappointed that multilateral agreements were fragmented and he stated that the world needs to strengthen agreements through the UN system.

The President went on to say that he felt the way forward was through a five point formula. 1) We humans have to check out pattern of production and consumption which is causing a problem for future generations. 2) Humans needed real action on the ground rather than just talk which got us nowhere. 3) Thirdly the conduct of the orientation of development should be worked through the paradigm of the green economy. 4) The UN system should be more efficient in finalizing the long debate on global economic growth. 5) And fifthly the Climate Change negotiations should be finalised by Mexico at the end of 2010. There should be a firm commitment by the Annexe 1 countries which will help to pave the way forward.

The President was very pleased and honoured with the UNEP Award which he said was in recognition of Indonesia’s leadership to manage oceans in the archipelagic nation.

To declare the meet open, the President moved forward and banged the ceremonial drum five times which was greeted by a round of applause.

Later a group of University students came forward and sang a welcome song dressed in beautiful Indonesian costumes. Then as a pleasant surprise to the gathering, the second song the group performed which had a very ‘We are the World’ feel to it was a beautiful song composed by the President himself which was performed in English. “We have only one planet, where we live and make our home,” they sang, while the girls fluttered their fans delicately in unison.