Datuk Seri Utama Rais Yatim (L)

The two foreign ministers reached the agreement when they met at the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry here on Monday, the ministry`s spokesman, Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo said.

"Wirayuda and his Malaysian colleague agreed to take concrete steps to accelerate the implementation of the commitments made by the two countries` heads of govenment at their annual consultative meeting early this year," Legowo said.

He said, although Yatim, who was only recently appointed Malaysian foreign minister to replace Syed Hamid Albar, had come to Jakarta mainly to introduce himself, he and Wirayuda took the opportunity to discuss followups to the outcome of the heads of government`s consultative meeting held in Kuala Lumpur last January 11.

Legowo said Wirayuda and Yatim at their meeting among other things discussed the settlement of some outstanding border problems, protection of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, promotion of exchange of visits between Indonesian and Malaysian youths, and improvement of relations between the two countries` media communities.

In relation with the border problems, the two ministers agreed that a number of issues which could not be settled in talks at technical level would be referred to ministerial-level talks. Technical-level talks on border issues were last held last February 21-22.

The two countries have been trying to come to terms on the delimitation of their maritime borders in the Malacca Strait, the South China Sea and the Sulawesi Sea, and of their land borders in Borneo, specifically between East Kalimantan and Sabah, and between West Kalimantan and Sarawak.

On the issue of ...