Jakarta (Indonesia Window) - Indonesia has proposed a project to explore business cooperation potentials in the South China Sea at a workshop organized by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, participated by 54 experts in personal capacity from Indonesia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Chinese-Taipei and Vietnam.

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received by Indonesia Window here, Wednesday mentioned that in the workshop held in Batam, Riau Islands on September 10-12, 2019, the experts discussed on managing potential conflict in the South China Sea.

The South China Sea region is deemed vulnerable to conflicts due to overlapping jurisdictional claims by several parties in the region, yet it offers tremendous economic opportunity as the waters is strategically important in supporting the global business connectivity.

According to the Director General of Policy Analysis and Development Agency (PADA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Siswo Pramono, this business factor is the main reason that the organizer choose Batam as the venue of the 2019 workshop.

"Batam is one of the growing regions in Indonesia which hosts more than 20 industrial parks. It is strategically located in the international trade shipping lane, connecting the South China Sea to the other parts of the world,” he pointed out.

Batam has also developed as one of Indonesia's gateways for digital and creative economy.

Recently, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and her Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan officially inaugurated Nongsa Digital Park (NOP), in Batam as an integrated digital park for IT companies and digital entrepreneurs from Indonesia, Singapore and Southeast Asian region.

It is in this spirit that Indonesia leads the dialogue process on South China Sea to include economic and tourism cooperation.

This Workshop is preceded by the 15th Working Group Meeting on the study of Tides and Sea Level Change and Their Impacts on Coastal Environment in the South China Sea.

The meeting was held on September 10, 2019 led by the Indonesia’s Geospatial Information Agency.

Reporting by Indonesia Window