On 16 February 2010, Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, gave an interview on issues concerning fishery cooperation between Thailand and Indonesia. Gist as follow:

1. Foreign Minister Kasit mentioned about the result of his meeting with Mr. Marty Natalegawa, Indonesian Foreign Minister, on 15 February 2010 in Jakarta, concerning the drafting of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries on the management of fishery, related businesses and cooperation in fishery processing industry. The draft will be submitted for the consideration of the Thai-Indonesian Joint Commission (JC) meeting, chaired by the Foreign Ministers of both countries, to be held in Bangkok during the second half of the 2010.

2. During the JC meeting, issues relating to the management of fishery between Thailand and Indonesia including standard practices at all points will be raised to help solve fishery-related problems such as falsification of vessel registration and document forgery. The Thai side planed to register all vessels and notify the Indonesian counterpart on the location of Thai vessels in Indonesian water, while the Indonesian side pledged to control Indonesian businesses jointly investing with Thai firms.

3. The MoU between both countries, like a joint management plan between Thailand and Indonesia, will help prepare Indonesian infrastructures, port and labour vital to its future establishment of fishery-related industry. This will also create jobs and add more value to the Indonesian resources.

4. Both sides will coordinate with the related agencies from both public and private sectors to study and compare with international practices, regulations and standard procedures of Thailand and Indonesia as well as other countries in the region in order to produce clarity in the standard operating procedures and understanding between related agencies of both countries.

5. Key factors in solving the current problems lie in communications between Thai vessels with their owners and Indonesian authority in order to prevent misunderstanding and false report on the fishing location, and also in the honesty and discipline of all parties involved.