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ndonesia has voiced its support of Thailand’s bid for ASEAN chairmanship this year following a gathering of the bloc’s foreign ministers at the Thai resort town of Chiang Mai to discuss several major regional issues.

Indonesian Ambassador to ASEAN Ade Padmo Sarwono told The Jakarta Post on Monday that Indonesia would fully support Thailand’s priority programs.

“We are particularly interested in one of Thailand’s program on strengthening fisheries cooperation [because it is] related to Indonesia’s efforts to combat IUU [irregular, unreported and unregulated] fishing,” he said.

Last Wednesday, Thai Ambassador to ASEAN Pasporn Sangasubana said in a discussion that her country had proposed the establishment of an ASEAN IUU fishing task force.

By the time Vietnam takes the ASEAN chairmanship in 2020, the regional bloc would have adopted an ASEAN general policy on fishery, she added.

Under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Indonesia is taking a tough stance against illegal fishing, especially with Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti sinking more than 380 vessels since 2015, mostly from other ASEAN countries.

Susi has claimed that her policy had improved Indonesia’s fishing industry while increasing fish stock across the archipelago.

Meanwhile, Ade said Indonesia wanted the 2019 budget for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to be approved so that the independent body could carry out its duties and mandates.

Indonesia will also raise the issue of the Indo-Pacific, an evolving concept for a regional order straddling the Indian and Pacific oceans, as the regional bloc is expected to adopt and finalize its own concept paper this year.

“The Indo-Pacific concept will be discussed as Indonesia is asked to prepare the concept paper as an evolving ASEAN document,” Ade said.

Thailand’s chairmanship of ASEAN is expected to achieve significant milestones, including on the decade-long negotiation for a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, where China and a several Southeast Asian nations have overlapping claims.

After agreeing for a single negotiation draft in 2018, ASEAN and China are expected to finish the first reading of the text in 2019.

The bloc is also expected to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiation.

In addition, the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA center) for disaster management will begin to lead ASEAN’s efforts in providing assistance to the man-made crises in Myanmar’s Rakhine state this year.

ASEAN secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi is expected to brief the ministers about his mission to Myanmar late last year, The Nation reported on Friday.

In addition to such high expectations, Thailand must also to deal with its domestic problems. Its ruling junta, led by Gen. Prayut Chan-o-Cha, has postponed the country’s general election six times since seizing power from an elected government in May 2014, triggering protests from activists.

Habibie Center vice chairman Dewi Fortuna Anwar told the Post that Thailand would be able to play its role as ASEAN chair even though protests had forced the cancellation of an ASEAN summit in Pattaya in April 2009.

“Thailand is very experienced and flexible in carrying out foreign relations. History shows that the turmoil of Thailand’s domestic politics has not diminished the professionalism of its foreign policy establishment and the expertise of its diplomats,” she said.