JAKARTA: Indonesia and Singapore are looking to set up a joint task force to deal with haze from Indonesia's wildfires, the countries' foreign ministers said on Tuesday, as they met to reaffirm their ties after weeks of simmering tensions. The visit to Jakarta by Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan came amid mounting frustrations in the city-state over the transboundary haze generated by Indonesia's most intense forest fires in 11 years.
After a two-hour meeting, Singapore and Indonesia's top diplomats discussed establishing a task force that would enable the countries to share information, gather cross-border evidence and potentially even recover assets from companies linked to the forest fires, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said. "We must follow the money trail these companies have left behind. Singapore offered to share data on companies linked to the fires," Nasir said. "No border should shield those who profit from burning our forests."
Indonesia has previously launched criminal investigations into companies linked to the fires. Nasir added that the two countries were mature enough to talk candidly about the fires, which have caused a spike in respiratory illnesses in Indonesia and engulfed neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and East Timor in smoke. — Reuters
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