RI, Thailand to combat illegal fishing

JAKARTA. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, discussed ways to strengthen and develop cooperation between the two countries in a meeting on Thursday.

“The main topic [of discussion] between Indonesia and Thailand is cooperation to eradicate illegal fishing,” said Cabinet secretary Andi Widjajanto, who together with other ministers accompanied Jokowi in his bilateral meeting with PM Prayut.

The meeting was one of a number of bilateral meetings between President Jokowi and other countries’ leaders scheduled on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta on Thursday.

After the meeting, Jokowi held a bilateral meeting with his Iranian counterpart, President Hassan Rouhani, in which they discussed efforts to fight terrorism.

According to Andi, Jokowi and Rouhani agreed in the meeting that "violence conducted by terrorist groups in the name of religion should be eradicated through strong cooperation between countries".

During the meeting, Andi said, the two leaders also agreed to boost cultural cooperation since "the two countries have a majority population of moderate Muslims".

Both Indonesia and Iran agreed to make efforts to boost two-way trade amid a decreasing bilateral trade volume. Iran also expressed that its private infrastructure and energy businesses were ready to enter Indonesia.

On Thursday, Jokowi is also set to hold bilateral meetings with Vietnamese Prime Minister Truong Tang Sang, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, North Korea's chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong-nam, Timor Leste Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak and several other country leaders participating in the Asian-African Summit. (Ina Parlina)