Proposal For Joint Sulawesi Sea Development Still At Initial Stage - Mohamad

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- The proposed joint development with Indonesia in Block ND6/ND7, Sulawesi Sea is still at the preliminary stage and has not been finalised.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said that so far no agreement has been reached between the two countries and official discussions on the proposal have not yet begun.

"However, I must emphasise here that the matter is still at the preliminary consideration stage to explore the possibility of such cooperation, and indeed nothing has been finalised yet," he said during a question and answer session at Dewan Negara today.

He was responding to a question by Senator Tan Sri Anifah Aman who wanted to know the status of discussions between Malaysia and Indonesia regarding Block ND6/ND7 and its implications on the country's sovereignty.

Mohamad said discussions on the maritime delimitation between Malaysia and Indonesia were held through the Technical Meeting on Maritime Boundaries Delimitation between Malaysia and the Republic of Indonesia, which was established in 2005.

He said the government was always cautious and made a comprehensive assessment of any proposed solution, including economic cooperation, to ensure that the country's sovereignty was not affected.

"The government remains committed to refining and seeking an agreement on this matter through negotiations through existing mechanisms and ensuring that the country's sovereignty, sovereign rights and interests would always be defended," he said.

Responding to Anifah's supplementary question on the impact of the proposal on diplomatic relations, Mohamad stressed that Malaysia-Indonesia relations remained close.

"The Malaysia-Indonesia relationship is very close, very good, as I mentioned in the Dewan Rakyat the other day, the Malaysia-Indonesia relationship is 98 per cent very good in the best possible conditions," he said.

He explained that although the maritime demarcation negotiations were still at the technical stage, many agreements had been reached, including the land demarcation in Sabah.

In addition, he informed that trade between the two countries had recorded positive growth through various agreements reached in the annual leaders' talks, including the opening of border trade between Sarawak-Indonesia and Sabah-Indonesia.

"We want to open the Tebedu Border so that it becomes a trading centre... this has already been opened, has been agreed upon and this will further boost trade relations between Malaysia and Indonesia," he said.

-- BERNAMA