The Indonesian president visited Hanoi on Friday and held talks with the Vietnamese president on maritime security, bilateral cooperation and environmental issues in the disputed South China Sea.
The meeting aimed to strengthen security and economic ties between Hanoi and Jakarta amid China’s growing influence in the region.
After meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Vietnamese President Bo Van Thuong issued a statement emphasizing the need for stability in the South China Sea. The delegations of both countries also signed a document on close cooperation between the two countries’ fisheries and a memorandum of understanding in the field of information technology and communications.
Vietnam is one of several countries defending its territorial interests against China in the tense region. Indonesia and China generally enjoy good relations, but Jakarta has expressed concern over what it sees as China’s encroachments on its exclusive economic zone in the region.
Trade between Indonesia and Vietnam increased by 23% last year to $14.1 billion, with the goal of reaching $15 billion, Vietnam’s president said.
“We have agreed to cooperate on the energy transition and digital economy for the prosperity of our people and our region,” Widodo said.
The two countries also signed an agreement on cooperation between fisheries, but the contents of the agreement have not been made public. Vietnam’s fishing industry is the second largest in the region after China.
Gregory B. Pauling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Vietnamese fishermen typically spend more time near the coast, which could be seen as infringing on another country’s territorial waters. He said that there is a sex.
In 2019, Indonesia detained 12 Vietnamese fishermen from a fishing boat it had seized after a maritime collision with Vietnam, accusing them of illegally fishing in the same area.
Pauling cited the delimitation of the border or exclusive economic zone between the two countries in December 2022, as well as Vietnam’s efforts to track fishing vessels, which was reprimanded by the European Union for not doing enough to combat illegal fishing. In response, he said that the proper implementation of the agreement could have important implications. .
Vietnam and Indonesia have been promised billions of dollars by the Group of Seven developed countries to help them transition away from dirty fossil fuels as part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership. Vietnam is a regional leader in clean energy, obtaining around one-tenth of its energy from wind and solar. Indonesia only gets about 1%.
Widodo will also visit Vinfast’s electric vehicle factory in northern Vietnam on Saturday. He praised the multinational’s plans to expand into Indonesia and build a $400 million EV factory.
Widodo, who is serving his second and final term in office ahead of February’s general election, arrived in Hanoi from the Philippines and is scheduled to visit Brunei later this weekend as part of a major tour of Southeast Asia.