Indonesia Mulls Maritime Ties with Netherlands
Indonesian Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo has met Dutch Ambassador to his country Rob Swartbolon to discuss cooperation on maritime issues, reports The Jakarta Post.
Both has agreed to explore cooperation in various maritime issues including in developing an integrated system of information and communication technology, the expansion of tourism in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, and the improvement of manpower capacity.
A ministry statement said that research on the Indonesian archipelago's maritime history and civilization will act as a beginning to cooperation.
The two countries share a long maritime history. Several of the Indonesian Navy's warships were made in the Netherlands, while at present the Navy is building a SIGMA class destroyer in cooperation with the Netherlands’ Damen Shipyards. Moreover, many Indonesian maritime figures studied in the Netherlands.
Swartbol talked about the establishment of the Asian library at Leiden University in the Netherlands, which houses the world’s biggest collection of books and documents about Indonesia.