Indonesia to host ASEAN Hydrographic Survey Workshop in 2023

13 September 2023 -

The Government of Indonesia through the Directorate General of Sea Transportation, Ministry of Transportation acted as the host of the ASEAN Hydrographic Survey Workshop held at the Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta.

Opened by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Transportation, Novie Riyanto, the Workshop was attended by the Ambassador of Mission of Japan to ASEAN, Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Member States, as well as international organisations and stakeholders with interests in the Malacca Strait and Singapore Strait.

In her remarks, Novie said that the Malacca Strait and Singapore Strait play an important role as they connect the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Both straits are narrow but heavily trafficked shipping lanes. Therefore, there is a growing concern for the safety of shipping navigation and the impact on the marine environment in these two Straits.

“To address these concerns, the coastal states of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have established cooperation to improve shipping safety and protect the marine environment from the negative impacts of shipping activities,” he said. This workshop, Novie continued, is one of the efforts made to continue the discussion to improve shipping safety in the Malacca Strait and Singapore Strait.

The ASEAN Hydrographic Survey 2023 is the final process of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Japan and 3 Coastal States (Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore) to cooperate in carrying out hydrographic surveys along the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) of the Malacca Strait and Singapore Strait at the expense of the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) signed in 2017.