Indonesia Offers Help To Philippine On Mindanao

Posted on Mar 08, 2011

Indonesian Government has offered to help contribute in solving security problems in southern Philippines such as Mindanao and become a member of the International Monitoring Team.

The Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said this in a press release together with Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday afternoon.

“We want to contribute in solving security problems in the southern Philippines and Indonesia are willing to become a member of the International Monitoring Team, as was the Philippines assisted Indonesia in carrying out monitoring duties in the Aceh peace process that we did,” said the Indonesian President as quoted from the official Presidency website.

Mindanao Problem

In this joint press statement, President SBY also explains other outcome of the bilateral meeting. In principle, the two heads of state agreed to continue to improve cooperation in various fields, such as economics, transportation, food, energy, defense and security, education, tourism, fisheries and police force.

In the economic field, there is an increased volume of trade between the two countries. In 2009, trade volume reached USD 2.9 billion while the year 2010 saw an increase to USD 3.89 billion.

According to Susilo, Indonesia and the Philippines also agreed to accelerate negotiations regarding maritime boundary as well as cooperation in protecting the citizens of both countries through the Mandatory Consular Notification. “We agreed to cooperate in international organizations, for example, Indonesia would support the Philippines to became a member of the International Maritime Organization and the Philippines would support Indonesia in its bid for director general of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization),” Yudhoyono added.

Meanwhile, President Aquino says that she saw many similarities between Indonesia and the Philippines, perhaps because it comes from the same family. “That’s good because from the beginning we face the same problem and I hope that also means we will see the same opportunity in the future,” said Aquino III.

After the meeting, both heads of state witnessed a signing of three memorandum of understanding and one joint declaration. Those MOUs are on basic education, youth and sport and Trans national crime eradication while the joint declaration is on maritime boundaries of both countries. Reza Indrayana