Vietnam, Indonesia agree to boost marine, fishery cooperation

Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quang (fourth from left) and Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Edhy Prabowo (centre) at the working session on January 17 (Photo: VNA)

At the session, the Indonesian minister held that there is much room for cooperation in sea food cultivation and processing, which is the main cooperation orientation. The Indonesian side will apply policies to expand import and export activities, he said, adding that a number of Vietnamese firms have contacted their Indonesian partners to implement the cooperation in the cultivation of lobster.

For his part, Ambassador Quang stressed that Vietnam totally supports the minister’s idea on pushing up the cooperation in sea food cultivation and processing, affirming this as a task to realise the agreement between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President Joko Widodo on raising two-way trade value to 10 billion USD this year. He also expressed his hope that the cooperation will make positive contributions to the boost of bilateral trade in the time to come.

As for other fields of cooperation, the two sides agreed to accelerate the signing of the minute of cooperation between Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Indonesia’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries on the cooperation programme in the next five years.

Regarding the issue of the illegal fishing activities by their fishermen in the other side’s sea, they affirmed the primary principle of settling it in a harmonious and humane way in line with the two countries’ laws and the international law, as well as in the spirit of the high-level agreement and the bilateral strategic partnership.

The two sides also discussed the measures to strengthen the information exchange, to establish a hotline and to settle the issues seriously so as to contribute to the development of the bilateral relations in the time to come.