In a bilateral cooperation committee meeting between Vietnam and Indonesia held in Hanoi, the countries have agreed to strengthen cooperation to settle fishing violations in the South China Sea, to improve the trade relations
Speaking to the joint press conference with his Vietnamese counterpart, Retno Marsudi, foreign minister in Indonesia, said that both the countries will focus on strengthening collaboration resolve fishing and related maritime issues.
Indonesia took an uncompromising stand against all kinds of illegal fishing activities in the country. Following this, the Southeast Asian nation has been destroying illegal fishing vessels from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, for violating its waters.
Addressing this, Pham Binh Minh, foreign minister of Vietnam, said that the country will focus on educating its own fishermen to raise awareness about the international water laws. In addition, both Indonesia and Vietnam will develop a water mechanism to control fishing violations as per the laws of both the countries.
Fishing is one of the major sources of income for a vast number of Vietnamese families. In order to boost its fishing activities, Vietnam is reported to develop a state-supported fishing boat militia to help the commercial fishers in the country in the South China Sea.
Recently, Indonesia has partnered with Google to catch illegal fishing activities in the country’s water, revealing thousands of vessels’ real-time location online. This is in line with the country’s strategy to end any kind of fishing violation in the country’s water.
