Jakarta, March 31, 2017 (Antara) - Indonesia and France, as the world's two
largest exclusive economic zone countries, share a common belief that a
strategic partnership is crucial to protecting the seas and ensuring
sustainability of the oceans.
To this end, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his French counterpart
Francois Hollande, at a bilateral meeting in Jakarta on March 29, 2017,
had agreed to strengthen strategic partnerships between the two
countries, mainly for developing the maritime and creative economy
sectors.
Jokowi noted that for cooperation in the maritime sector, Indonesia has
called for cooperation in fighting against Illegal, Unreported and
Unregulated (IUU) fishing, including categorizing IUU fishing as a
transnational organized crime.
Illegal fishing activities have risked the sustainability of oceans and harmed the fishery resources of Indonesia.
The
government has claimed that illegal fishing activities in the country's
waters have caused annual losses worth hundreds of trillions of rupiah
to the state.
Hence, over the past years, Indonesia has actively cracked down on
illegal fishing activities in the country's maritime territory.