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Indonesia
attends ASEM seminar on sea piracy
The Jakarta Post
Indonesia is participating in an Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) two-day
seminar on piracy at sea in Brussels, which started Wednesday, to share
experiences of handling the crime at home.
The Indonesian delegation at the seminar was led by the Foreign
Ministry's political, security, and regional agreement director Rachmat
Budiman, minister counselor at the Indonesian Embassy in Brussels P.L.E.
Priatna told Antara state news agency in London on Thursday.
The seminar was expected to yield input for the next ASEM Summit to be
held in Brussels on October 4 and 5.
Priatna said the seminar was relevant to Indonesia for sharing
experiences in safeguarding the Malacca Strait with other countries.
The strait, previously infamous as the number one piracy hot spot, is
currently being looked at as an example of a success story on how to
protect security in the world's busiest sea lane.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore established a cooperation scheme to
maintain security in the Malacca Strait in July 2004. The trilateral
coordinated patrol scheme is codenamed MALSINDO, the Malacca Straits
Coordinated Patrols. Since the joint patrols began operations, piracy cases have fallen; the crime rate in the 500-mile-long strait decreased by about 70 percent in 2009. |