The Japan Coast Guard has held training in Indonesia with the coast guards of several countries in Southeast Asia.

It began on Batam Island near Singapore on Monday, focusing on maritime surveillance. Officials from Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia took part.
They learned how to gather information and quickly respond to suspicious ships and carry out rescue operations.

Colonel Krisworo from the Indonesia Coast Guard said, "This training is very useful for us to build up the capacity of coast guard personnel, not only from Indonesia, but from other ASEAN countries as well."

Captain Rolando Lorenzana from the Philippine Coast Guard said, "We are trying to modernize our coast guard. So the Japan Coast Guard provided good assistance."

Participants boarded a Japan Coast Guard jet and practiced monitoring the waters around Sumatra Island and reporting back to headquarters.

Southeast Asia straddles a key sea route, and Japan has been stepping up its cooperation with countries in the region.

Japan Coast Guard's Adachi Motonari said, "There have been incidents in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea in the Middle East, in which the safety of ships has been threatened. We want to get such information as quickly as possible."
Adachi added that Japan hopes to upgrade its networking with Southeast Asia to effectively share information about developments at sea.