BOGOR, Indonesia - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday committed to “accelerate negotiations” on the delimitation of his country’s and the Philippines’ continental shelf.

In 2021, the Philippines and Indonesia began talks on defining the continental shelf boundaries between the two archipelagic countries.

Talks regarding the delimitation of the continental shelf will be based on the rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas, Widodo said.

“We agreed to review two border security agreements,” he said during a joint statement with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who is in Indonesia for a 3-day state visit.

“It remains relevant for communities in border areas and the revised Border Crossing Agreement and Border Patrol Agreement.”

It took 20 years for the Philippines and Indonesia to forge the landmark Philippine-Indonesia Maritime Border Agreement, which peacefully settled the two countries’ overlapping exclusive economic zones in the Mindanao and Celebes seas.

Negotiations for the Maritime Border Agreement began in 1994, and was only signed into law 20 years after negotiations. It took effect in August 2019.

In 2021, Filipino and Indonesian officials held the first special meeting of the Joint Permanent Working Group on Maritime and Ocean Concerns virtually due to pandemic-related limitations.

Indonesia and the Philippines can contribute to the development of international law, especially archipelagic countries, if the two countries can successfully complete the continental shelf negotiations, Indonesian delegation chairperson Bebeb Djundjunan had said during the panel’s first meeting last year.

When asked for details about Widodo’s proposal to accelerate negotiations on the continent shelf, Philippine Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles underscored that the Indonesian leader “was not specific in his own speech.”

“I think it was deliberate on that part so that we can explore options on that,” she said.

Meantime, Widodo said that he is also “glad” that the Philippines and Indonesia have renewed the Trilateral Cooperative Arrangement (TCA) with Malaysia, saying the deal is “very important to secure our waters from threats of hostage-taking and kidnapping.”