REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia and South Korea have signed an agreement to establish a marine technology cooperation and research Center (PPKTK), an official has said. The agreement was signed here on Wednesday by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Korean Marine and Fisheries Minister Kim Young Choon.

"The maritime cooperation with South Korea is very important as South Korea is an old friend of Indonesia," Luhut said .

The signing of the agreement was a follow up of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on maritime cooperation signed on May 16 in 2016 between the two countries.

A MoU on maritime cooperation has also been signed at the level of tertiary education institutions between the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Institute of Maritime Sciences and Technology of Korea (KIOST) on 14 April 2016.

"I hope there would be concrete cooperation immediately in technology as mentioned in the agreement such as investment cooperation in technology and education in Indonesia," he said.

Luhut said the government of Indonesia wants cooperation in environment research. "We are very serious in the issue of environment, sustainability both over land and sea, and we also want to reach Sustainability in Development Goals (SDG's), that we also want Korea could help in handling sea garbage problem," he said.

Luhut also touched on the possibility of joint research in in palm oil as the feed stock for biodiesel.

Minister Kim welcomed the offer from the Indonesian government to strengthen bilateral cooperation, saying,"Our visit to Jakarta is to review what we could do and to see the progress in the implementation of our cooperation agreement."

Kim said he hoped the two countries could start study possible cooperation in the development of tidal power plant in 2019.

"Tidal energy is a renewable energy that could be generated in Indonesia," Kim said.

PPKTK, to be built in Cirebon, West Java, is aimed at strengthening cooperation and relations between the two countries in marine science and technology, he said.

Joint research projects to be carried out through PPKTK include general oceanography; marine sciences and technology; climate change and sea environment including ecosystem, integrated coastal management and sea law; sea energy (including tidal energy, eaves and current) ; sea mineral resources;fresh water; coastal and sea disasters.

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