Indonesia, Thailand to form working group on fishery cooperation, solutions

BANGKOK, April 23 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha is scheduled to return home on Thursday afternoon after attending the two-day Asian-African Summit in Indonesia, during which Jakarta and Bangkok have agreed to form a joint working group tasked with fishery cooperation and solutions in both the short and the long terms. The agreement was reached during bilateral talks between Indonesian President Joko Widodo and the Thai prime minister in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, earlier in the day on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit 2015, set from April 21-23. Under the agreement, the joint working group, which will soon discuss immediate and long-term solutions to fisheries, will consist of the Indonesian Ministers of Fisheries and Foreign Affairs, as well as Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn. During the talks, the Thai prime minister acknowledged that Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing has existed in Thailand, but Bangkok has tried to quickly address IUU, while Indonesia promised to take care of fishing crew members stranded on Ambon Island. On the occasion, Indonesia invited the Thai private sector to invest in its food, energy and tourism industries and sought bilateral cooperation on agricultural technology. The Thai prime minister said he hoped Jakarta and Bangkok would sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on fishery cooperation in the near future. Two Thai leaders, including the prime minister himself and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn, represent Thailand to participate in the Asian African Conference (AAC) 2015 and related forums, hosted by Indonesia from April 19-24, with the Asian-African Summit alone set from April 22-23. (TNA)