Cooperative Mechanism Component

The purpose of the Aids to Navigation Fund(Fund) is to receive direct financial contributions from user States and other parties for the provision and maintenance of aids to navigation in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

Contributions to the Fund shall be voluntary and may originate from States, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations, industry and private benefactors.  (A party that contributes to the Fund hereinafter shall be referred to as a “contributor”).

Article 6 of the Rules of Procedure of the Aids to Navigation Fund stated that there shall be an “Aids to Navigation Fund Committee” constituting one Representative from each littoral State. Representatives shall, as far as possible, be senior officials administratively or operationally involved in safety of navigation matters. The State responsible for the administration and operation of the Fund shall provide the Chairman of the Committee.

Any contributor to the Fund may be invited to participate in the Committee. Up to date, user States and user of the Straits appointed as a member of Fund as follows:-

1. The littoral States - Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore;
2. User States - India, People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates;
3. Inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations - the Nippon Foundation, the Middle East Navigation Aids Service (MENAS), the Malacca Strait Council (MSC) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO)

Even though it was not specifically provided in the Rules of Procedure of the Fund the status of observers, the Fund Committee during 1st ANF Meeting held in Penang in year 2008 agreed that the rules of procedures do not prohibit the attendance of observers. The Fund Committee agreed that observers could be invited to attend the meeting on the following basis:

1. They have made pledges to contribute either by sponsoring projects under the Cooperative Mechanism or contributing to the Aids to Navigation Fund;
2. They are already partners in the Cooperative Mechanism by way of sponsoring projects that have been identified; and
3. In view of this they are also potential contributors to the Aids to Navigation Fund.

The observers to the Meeting are as follows :-

1. Greece
2. Japan
3. Germany