KUANTAN: Malaysia intends to sign an agreement with Vietnam to tackle the issue of deep-sea fishermen from the republic encroaching on local territorial waters, said Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
He said Malaysia and Indonesia signed a similar agreement and another one could be signed with Vietnam as a follow-up to a letter of intent signed in August as a promise to resolve the problem.
“We take it (encroachment) seriously because lately there has been an increase in foreign fishing boats encroaching on Malaysian waters in the east coast, with most of them from Vietnam,” he said, adding that 141 Vietnamese fishermen were detained last year for encroaching on Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone.
He said Vietnam gave a positive response to the matter as it was aware of the problem.
Saifuddin, who is also Indera Mahkota member of parliament, said this at the Balok Fisherman Integration Programme here yesterday.
Present was Malaysia Fisheries Development Board Pahang director Rashima Baharuddin.
On efforts to bring back the remaining Malaysians in Wuhan and Hubei province, China, over the Covid-19 outbreak, Saifuddin said the National Disaster Management Agency was working on evacuating about 30 Malaysians there.
He said the consulate offices and Malaysian embassy in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan would operate as usual to ensure the wellbeing of Malaysians there, adding that only some Malaysian staff would be brought home with their spouses and children.
On the Asean-China Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Laos on Feb 20, he said the meeting would discuss how to address Covid-19.
“The objective of the meeting is to strengthen cooperation between Asean and China in addressing the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The meeting will allow us to exchange notes and experiences (in addressing the outbreak) and hear a briefing by the Chinese foreign minister on the latest developments on the Covid-19 outbreak.” --Bernama