The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to seek peaceful settlement in the dispute over maritime border after a meeting between foreign ministers of both countries here on Wednesday evening.

"The president of Indonesia and the prime minister of Malaysia have decided to use peaceful means in addressing the problem relating to maritime boundary of the two countries, particularly in the Sulawesi Sea," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and his Malaysian counterpart Syed Hamid Albar said in a joint press statement after the meeting.

Both countries have involved in dispute over the ownership of an offshore area between Indonesia's East Kalimantan province and Malaysia's Sabah state.

The statement, read out by Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry's spokesman Marty Natalegawa, also said "both governments agreed to take necessary steps to ease the growing tension that has developed during the last several days."

In the context of peaceful resolution, the ministers agreed that technical teams from the two countries will "urgently meet" in Indonesia on March 22-23 and they will also meet on a regular basis, Marty said.

Source: Xinhua