Vietnam and Indonesia on September 14 issued a joint communiqué on Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Indonesia from September 13-14.

The joint communiqué emphasised the fine developments in the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia since the two countries set up diplomatic ties on December 30, 1955.

It said the Vietnamese and Indonesian leaders agreed to boost bilateral ties towards a strategic partnership, for the interests of the two countries’ people and for peace, stability, cooperation, development and prosperity in the region and the world.

According to the joint statement, PM Nguyen Tan Dung and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono applauded the organisation of the third round of negotiations on demarcating the exclusive economic zone and agreed to accelerate the demarcation of the exclusive economic zone boundary of the two countries.

In the spirit of not affecting the results of negotiations on demarcation of the exclusive economic zone, the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in marine and fisheries issues, including the prevention, combating and minimization of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as other issues of mutual concern as mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding on Marine and Fisheries Cooperation signed in 2010.

They applauded the success of the 44 th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-44) and relevant meetings, and the 18 th ASEAN Regional Forum in Bali from July 18-23, 2011, with encouraging results particularly with respect to regional issues such as the guidelines on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC) and working towards building the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), new developments in the Thailand-Cambodia border issue, and the Korean Peninsula.

In the joint communiqué, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to establishing the ASEAN Community by 2015 by accelerating the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community in the 2009-2015 period, to create peace, security, stability and prosperity for the region, and to discuss a vision of an ASEAN Community in the global community after 2015./.