Malaysia and Vietnam intend to sign a memorandum of understanding that experts say could eventually help ease a decades-old, six-party dispute over sovereignty in the resource-rich South China Sea.

As a whole, the fishing industry in Malaysia contributed 0.8 per cent or RM11.5 billion (US$2.5 billion) of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022.

Malaysia loses up to 6 billion ringgit ($1.4 billion) to illegal fishing every year, while Indonesia loses an estimated $2 billion. Indonesian authorities patrolling the Malacca Strait.