The agreement will be marked with a joint exercise by the two most populous countries in eastern coasts of Asia, Bobby said here on Sunday.
"So far Indonesia has had such cooperation with neighboring countries of Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines and Japan," he said when welcoming a Chinese sea patrol ship Haixun 01 at Jakarta`s Tanjung Priok port on Sunday.
Bobby said China is a big industrial country having high maritime technology as indicated with the its ability to build the Haixun 01 ship.
Therefore, maritime safety cooperation would be expanded with China especially as geographically China is relatively close to Indonesia compared with Europe and the United States, he said.
"China has the knowledge and technology in navigation and maritime safety, ship seaworthiness and shipbuilding, and experience in sea victim search and rescue," he added.
He said the Haixun 01 ship will take part in the joint exercise in Indonesia between the maritime personnel of the two countries.
Indonesia and China will exchange the knowledge and experience in maritime safety through the joint exercise, he said.
"We will hold the joint exercise on July 18 in giving first aid in sea accident," he said.
Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao said China had contributed 1 billion yuan for the expansion of cooperation between the two countries in sea navigation and other related activities.
"China and Indonesia have agreed to maintain close cooperation in various maritime related fields such as through the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)," Liu said.
Bobby said cooperation between China and ASEAN in the maritime sector had been discussed at an ASEAN-China meeting in November 2012 in Pnom Penh, Cambodia with stress on strengthening of cooperation in all related sectors.
"But, there are seven priority areas of cooperation -- transport, agriculture, information and communications technology, human resources development, mutual fund investment , development of the Mekong river, energy, tourism, community health and environment," he said.
Liu Jianchao said China had contributed 3 billion yuan to expansion of China-Asean maritime cooperation.
The maritime cooperation includes in navigation safety, and in search and rescue, he said.
(AS/S012)
Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
