The commitment was conveyed during the bilateral meeting between Indonesia`s Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and her Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah here on Monday.
"Efforts to solve border issues has become the top priority for both countries, so negotiations must be intensified to solve the problems one by one," Marsudi noted.
According to Marsudi, President Joko Widodo stressed that border issues had been crucial for Indonesia and Malaysia to be settled.
Malaysia has also shared its strong commitment to solve border issues with Indonesia.
"We have agreed to try to solve (the border issues) one by one and gradually. We do not want to wait until all problems (regarding border issues) accumulate and wait for solution," Malaysia`s Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah noted.
During the bilateral meeting, both ministers agreed to start discussions and negotiations on border issues at the technical level.
"We have agreed to give full mandate to the technical negotiation team on border issues to intensify the process," Marsudi remarked.
"I think this is a new approach. All stakeholders discuss issues that can be solved immediately, and not many border issues would be delayed," Saifuddin added.
The technical team on border negotiations will submit its reports to their respective ministers regarding issues that could be prioritized for settlement.
"We would select, which issue is considered crucial, and we will solve it first. If we do not use (the approach), we will be forever at odds," Saifuddin added.
Reported by Yuni Arisandy
(S022/INE)
(T.SYS/A/KR-BSR/A014)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
