REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA  -- Indonesia is hosting a Tripartite Technical Experts Group conference on maritime security in the Malacca and Singapore Straits.

"Until now the Malacca and Singapore Straits have been safe for domestic as well as foreign vessels," the head of the Indonesian delegation to the 41st TTEG meeting, Raymond Sianturi, said here on Sunday evening.

He said TTEG is a three-country forum consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore that has been established to determine a consensus for maritime security in the Malacca and Singapore Straits.

The meeting is important because the Malacca Strait is included as a vital shipping lane in the world and so all parties concerned must contribute to its security.

Besides from the three countries representatives from around 10 other countries including Australia and China have also been invited to the meeting.

Raymond said with regard to maritime protection a number of projects have already been carried out in coordination with a number of other institutions outside the ministry of transportation such as the Marine Electronic Highway program.

The program carried out in cooperation with the ministry of environment affairs and forestry is aimed at monitoring sea pollution.

Emphasizing the importance of maritime security in the Malacca Strait Raymond said that 70,000 to 80,000 ships pass the strait in a year.

"That is the number of ships detected by AIS (Automatic Identification System)," he said.

So, traditional fishing ships which are not completed with AIS are not monitored making the number of ships passing the strait in a year could reach more than 80,000, he said.

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