REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ABU DHABI -- The governments of Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed an agreement to prevent human trafficking between both countries as part of the Bali Process.

"We signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to combat human trafficking," Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi stated on the sidelines of President Joko Widodo's visit to Abu Dhabi, late Sunday local time.

Retno remarked that cooperation was one of the subjects of bilateral talks between Indonesia and UAE.

Foreign Affairs Ministry's spokesman Aramanatha Nasir explained that the UAE had shown interest to cooperate with Indonesia in preventing human trafficking when it attended the meeting in Indonesia to discuss about the country's trade, which is known as the Bali process.

"Human trafficking still exists. They (illegal workers) were smuggled here to work as professionals, but in the end, they were placed in another position. We will prevent that," Aramanatha affirmed.

According to the spokesman, the number of Indonesian citizens in the UAE reached 80 thousand, of which 72 thousand are workers.

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