Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi attended the ASEAN and China Foreign Ministers Meeting (ACFMM) in which the Indonesian government emphasized the importance of maritime cooperation between China and ASEAN in the East Asian Summits framework.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release issued in Jakarta on Monday, the ACFMM was held in Yuxi, Yunnan province, China from June 13 to 14.

The Indonesian Foreign Minister also underlined the importance of maritime cooperation, especially for the development of fishery, small and medium enterprises as well as research collaboration.

Minister Retno also stated that Indonesia was in favor of even better collaboration between ASEAN and China to eradicate Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing, besides ensuring better security.

The Indonesian government was also pushing the ASEAN countries and China to maintain and prioritize peace, security and stability by respecting international law.

Among other issued that were under focus during the meeting were the development of the ASEAN-China partnership, preparation for the 25 years of ASEAN-China partnership commemoration summit, as well as developments in some regional issues, especially those involving the Southern China sea.

The dialogue relationship between ASEAN countries and China was established in 1991 during the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1996, China became an ASEAN dialogue partner during the 29th Foreign Ministers meeting in Jakarta.

ASEAN and China both signed a Partnership Declaration at the 7th ASEAN-China summit in October 2003 in Bali, Indonesia, as the basis for the strategic partnership cooperation.

The partnership is implemented through working plans focusing on agriculture, information technology, human resource development, investment, energy, transportation, culture, health, tourism and environment.

At the moment, ASEAN countries and China are in the middle of executing work plans for 2016-2020.
(Uu.KR-ARC/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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