Indonesia, Papua New Guinea Cooperate To Prevent Illegal Fishing

Manado, N.Sulawesi, Dec 1 (Antara) - The governments of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea have established cooperation in putting up a fight against illegal unreported and unregular (IUU) fishing, the subject of the Joint Communiqu� document.

"This cooperation between the Indonesian Ministry of Marine and Fishery and the Ministry of Fishery of Papua New Guinea is also aimed at promoting sustainable governance," Secretary General of the Ministry of Marine Fishery, Sjarief Widjaja, said here on Tuesday.

The cooperation pact was signed by the Indonesian Minister of Marine and Fishery, Susi Pudjiastuti, and the Papua New Guinea Minister of Fishery, Mao Zeming.

Sjarief said the signing of the Joint Communiqu� was perceived by the representatives of friendly countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Brunei Darussalam and CTI-CFF (coral triangle initiative on coral reefs, fisheries and food security) member countries.

"The Ministry will continue to work to forge similar cooperation pacts with other CTI-CFF member countries," he remarked.

The CTI-CFF is a multilateral partnership of six countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste, which was established in 2007.

"The coral triangle region is also called `Amazon of the sea`," Sjarief noted.

The first CTI-CFF senior official meeting (SOM) will be held from December 2-3, 2015.