International relations are interactions between international actors, one of which is a sovereign state. According to an expert named McClelland, international relations states that international relations is the study of interactions between certain types of social units and also includes studies that discuss the relevant circumstances surrounding the interactions. Meanwhile, according to another expert, namely J.C. Johari, international relations is a study of interactions between countries in the sovereign world. Interaction in international relations can take the form of international cooperation. In this interaction, there are two types of international cooperation, namely bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral cooperation is usually considered more effective in producing decisions or policies for both parties because it only involves two parties. However, unlike multilateral cooperation which involves many parties or actors, multilateral cooperation requires an organization as a forum or forum for cooperation to produce the most profitable or best policies or decisions for the participating parties. One example of a forum for multilateral cooperation in the international scope is IORA.
Do you know what IORA is?
The Indian Ocean Rim Association or IORA, is a pioneer and the only mega-regional organization in the Indian Ocean region. Before IORA was officially established on March 7 1997, initially this mega-regional organization was called the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), and only changed to "IORA" at the 13th Ministerial Meeting in Perth. The Indian Ocean region is an important water area, because it is a strategic international trade route from Asia to Europe and from Europe to Asia. IORA was officially founded in 1997 with 23 member countries namely, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, France, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Seychelles, Singapore , Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and Yemen.
IORA has 6 priority areas of cooperation, namely Maritime Safety and Security, Natural Disaster Risk Management, Trade and Investment Facilitation, Fisheries Management, Cultural and Tourism Exchanges, and Academic and Science and Technology Cooperation. Apart from that, IORA also raised two important issues, namely the Blue Economy and Women's Economic Empowerment.
IORA, until now, is still not considered successful in becoming an ideal international organization. IORA still does not have legal personnel status, which is one of the ideal requirements for an international organization. The legal status of personnel is a law that binds member countries to membership in an international organization. IORA also still only bridges international cooperative relations in bilateral form. IORA, which should be a forum for implementing multilateral cooperation among its member countries, has not yet produced multilateral cooperation among its member countries. This is because IORA has not been able to overcome or resolve its obstacles and challenges properly.
IORA, which is a mega-regional cooperation organization, in achieving its founding goals or in carrying out its cooperation, of course, has its obstacles and challenges. Obstacles and challenges that have not been overcome have resulted in the failure of IORA as a Mega-regional Organization in the Indian Ocean region. The following are the obstacles and challenges of IORA, namely:
1. Regional stability and security.
There are many risks of natural disasters in the region, such as the 2004 tsunami disaster, there are maritime boundary disputes in member countries such as the Maritime Delimitation Dispute between Somalia and Kenya, as well as the presence of pirates, fishing theft, irregular migration, drug trafficking, and climate change. This can make it difficult to achieve one of IORA's main goals, namely, the "Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace."
2. The legal status of personnel or legal power in the IORA organization is not strong enough.
There is no legal authority for this organization that can be accepted (by other parties) and applied in carrying out activities on an international scope, which are not just activities within the national scope of one or each of its member countries (not just a grouping of several countries). Which can be recognized as a separate entity in transactions or relationships with other parties or outside the organization's membership. Therefore, the IORA mega-regional organization is considered not yet able to become a legal subject and cannot carry out its cooperative activities in multilateral cooperation but is still only in bilateral relations.
3. Differences in the interests of member countries
