KEETMANSHOOP - The Namibian and Indonesian governments have signed a plan of action to help practical collaboration in the fisheries area between the two countries.

Namibia’s Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Bernhard Esau and Indonesia’s Minister of Marine and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti yesterday signed the plan of action for the period 2019 to 2021 on the sideline of the Our Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

In his brief remarks during the signing ceremony, Esau stated the importance of collaborations such as this, saying even though the two countries are located in different oceans with distinct fisheries resources, they are large ocean countries and hence have a lot to learn from each other in terms of fisheries matters.

Esau described Namibia and Indonesia as true sister states on fisheries matters.  “In particular, Namibia is keen to learn best practices from Indonesia on fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and sustainable aquaculture production,” he said.

Esau said the signing of the action of plan follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries in August this year, and it is therefore important that those responsible for putting these agreements to action do so as soon as possible, so as to give true meaning to agreements signed by the two countries.

“I therefore urge officials from both countries to act with speed to conclude the necessary detailed protocols containing timelines and budgets for specific activities, so that we may give meaning to this plan of action, and hence the MoU. Let us act with speed to give meaning to the commitments made by our two presidents during the state visit to Indonesia in August 2018,” he said.

He further reiterated Namibia’s commitment to the signed agreements, and assured his counterpart that Namibia will be committed to ensuring that the aspirations of the signed plan of action are fulfilled.