NUSA DUA – The RSPO annual conference for 2017 (RT15) kicked off at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bali amid the increasing volcanic eruption of Mount Agung. There is yet no information up until Monday afternoon on whether the event would be cancelled and the RSPO Secretariat continues to monitor the development of the situation and inform all participants about it.
“We realize that the delegations which will attend the RT15 are affected by the activity of Mount Agung and the possibility is likely that they fail to land in Bali. The RSPO secretariat continues to monitor the situation and will inform all participants about the development through the official site and RSPO’s Twitter account,” an official statement issued by the RT15 secretariat said on Monday (27/11).
To participants of the RT15 who were already in Bali, the secretariat asked them to report on their travel status to the email account rt@rspo.org or directly to the registration desk at the venue as soon as possible,
The increased activity of Mount Agung and the spread of its volcanic ash has forced the closure of Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport for 24 hours starting on Monday (27/11/2017) a 07:00 CIT until Tuesday (28/11/2017). The closure was due to the ash from the eruption of Mount Agung that was hazardous to flights.
The RSPO Secretariat does not recommend participants to try to look for alternative access to the location of the RT15, through land or sea, and recommend them to only obtain their information from the official site of the authorities of the I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport.
The closure of the airport have kept many participants of the RT15 that is being held at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Duam Bali on November 27-30 2017, from entering Bali.
“I am retained at the Soekarno-Hatta this morning and have to reschedule my flight to tomorrow morning,” said Nunik Maharani, Group Head Corporate Communications at PT. Austindo Nusantara Jaya. Tbk – PT. Austindo Nusantara Jaya. Tbk.
RT15 participants from Australia would also be unable to enter Bali because airlines such as Jetstar, Virgin Australia, dan Qantas, have today announced that they are cancelling all flights to Bali.
[UPDATE on Monday evening]
Due to major flight disruptions caused by volcanic activity of Mt Agung, Bali, RSPO regrets to inform delegates that Day 1 of #RT15 (Tuesday 28 November) has been cancelled. In trying to deliver the best possible experience for the guests that are already on site, the events scheduled for Day 2 and 3 of RT15 (Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 November), will proceed as usual, pending minor programme changes.
At this point, the RSPO General Assembly (GA14) is planned to proceed as usual. We suggest all delegates that are not currently in Bali and are eligible to vote but not yet registered, to do so by registering for online voting. Deadline to register and vote is 28th November, 3:00 pm (GMT+8).