Jakarta and Bangkok are planning to set up a joint working group tasked with fisheries cooperation, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.
An agreement was reached Thursday during bilateral talks between Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha in Jakarta on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit held from April 21 to 23.
The working group will be made up of Indonesia’s fisheries and foreign affairs’ ministers, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan and Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn.
The group members will discuss immediate and long-term solutions to fisheries issues.
In their talks, Prayut highlighted the problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Thailand and Indonesia pledged to take care of fishing crew members stranded on Ambon Island.
Prayut expressed hope that Jakarta and Bangkok would sign a memorandum of understanding on fishery cooperation in the near future.
2015 BERNAMA