ID :
43776
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 21:57
Auther :

RI, SINGAPORE TO SIGN SEA BORDER AGREEMENT



Jakarta, Feb 2 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia and Singapore plan to sign an agreement on their common sea borders in the western part of Indonesia or north of Nipah Island later this month.
"The agreement will officially be signed by the two countries this month. The foreign minister will represent the Indonesian government," the president said at his office here on Monday.
The president said the agreement on the sea border in the western region was reached after intensive negotiations between the two governments over the past three years.
"It is not easy to negotiate sea boundaries or land borders but after intensive negotiations we finally reached an agreement at the end of last year," the president said.
Yudhoyono said that the fixing of the sea territorial border would encourage economic cooperation among Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
"It would generate the Sijori (Singapore-Johor-Riau) triangle cooperation. After all, we have decided to develop Batam, Bintan and Karimun islands as a free trade zone," the president said.
He said that with the boder agreement, economic activities in the areas could be developed further.
The head of state said that clear geopolitical borders and guaranteed security would boost regional cooperation, including security cooperation in the Malacca Strait.
In the meantime, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said that the agreement would be signed in the middle of February 2009.
"We will adjust our agenda to that of the Singapore foreign minister," he said.
He said that with the agreement on the sea border in the western zone, Indonesia and Singapore still had to negotiate their sea border in the eastern region which was between Bintan and Changi airport of Singapore.
"We have proposed that the border in the eastern part was discussed together with the western one but Singapore asked that it be delayed because it still had a dispute with Malaysia on Batu Puteh," the minister added.

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