(AseanAll)  — Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi stated that sovereignty diplomacy is one of the main priorities of Indonesian diplomacy in the last 9 years in the 2024 Annual Press Statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (PPTM) on January 8, 2024. Boundary negotiations are important and need to be resolved despite requiring a long negotiation process with much commitment and patience from both parties.

"National boundaries are important to be resolved immediately. National boundary negotiations, both land and sea, are not easy. Therefore, high commitment is needed to resolve it," Retno said in the 2024 Foreign Ministerial Press Statement (PPTM) held at the Asian-African Conference (KAA) Museum, in Bandung, Indonesia on January 8.

Furthermore, Retno also said that the achievement of various state border settlements was also carried out by upholding respect for international law, including UNCLOS 1982.

Boundary agreements that Indonesia has concluded with neighbouring countries in the past 9 years include the 12-year Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Boundary Delimitation Agreement with Vietnam in 2021, the Indonesia-Malaysia Agreement on two maritime boundary segments in the Sulawesi Sea and the Malacca Strait in June 2023, which was negotiated for 18 years.

Other agreements include three land boundary segments with Malaysia in Kalimantan-Sabah that were agreed in the 2017-2019 period. Other land boundary segments, including the Sebatik. Senapat-Sesa and West Pillar-AA 2 segments in Kalimantan-Sabah are targeted for completion in 2024 after 24 years of negotiations.

The Indonesia-Timor Leste Agreement for the land boundary line in the Subina-Oben and Noel-Besi Citrana segments, signed at the end of January 2024, was negotiated over 19 years. Another agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines has also agreed on Principles and Guidelines for the Continental Shelf Boundary in October 2022. This agreement complements the EEZ Boundary agreement in the Sulawesi Sea in 2014.