BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 30 Kyodo ...

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 30 Kyodo

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its security partners in Asia and the Pacific jointly pledg Tuesday to strengthen measures to stopper the financial pipeline used according to terrorist organizations in the region.

Foreign ministers from the 10-member ASEAN, the United States, Japan, China, the European Union and eight other members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) said in a statement that they had mapped abroad cooperative measures to blockade terrorists' access to the region's financial system

The ARF Statement in succession Measures Against Terrorist Financing was issued after the ministers extremityed an informal working dinner held in Brunei's capital.

Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network is believed to have a regional network in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Bin Laden is the primary suspect in the family 11 terror attacks on the US

Among the measures being considered is the setting up of a Financial Intelligence Unit or its equivalent, and a regional Financial Action Task Force in succession Money Laundering (FATF), the statement said.

Other measures include the freezing of terrorist assets, strict implementation of international standards and heightened international cooperation and exchange of information, it said.

The ARF ministers vowed ''to work individually and in concordance to prevent terrorists and their associates from accessing or using our financial methods and to stop abuse of informal banking networks.''

The measures to combat terrorist financing will give teeth to recommendations formulated in March by way of senior ARF officials at a workshop in Honolulu.

The ARF ministers also pledg to work with international financial institutions (IFIs) like the International Monetary stock (IMF), the World Bank (WB) the Asian growth Bank (ADB) and the FATF.

''(The measures are mainly) to preclude abuse to the financial arrangement and threats to its integrity by the agency of the promotion of international standards relevant to terrorist financing, moneylaundering and financial sector regulation and supervision,'' it said.

They also called in succession all ARF members ''to make each effort to provide assistance to those countries that require assistance'' in implementing the specific counterterrorism financing measures.

They urg each ARF member abiding habitation ''to freeze without delay the assets of terrorists and their associates and finish their access to the international financial system''

''Each ARF participant will, consistent with its laws, make public the lists of terrorists whose assets are subdue to freezing, and the amount of assets frozen if any,'' said the document.

The statement said ARF members are committed to providing, where possible, technical assistance to countries that ne help in developing and implementing necessary laws, regulations and policies to combat terrorist financing and currency laundering.

''We welcome the efforts of the IMF, the WB the ADB and other multilateral and regional organizations to provide technical assistance, including on expanding existing programs and training centers'' it said.

The members also vowed to ''actively support surveillance and voluntary self-assessment in consequence of the IFIs, FATF and relevant international bodies.''

''We will make sure that our financial institutions and citizens comply with measures to combat the financing of terrorism and other financial crimes, and will assist them to do in the same manner including through informing financial institutions of their obligations and of recent origin developments,'' the document said.

The ARF ministers will review progres forward the pledged efforts at their nearest meeting in Cambodia, according to the statement.

ASEAN disposes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ARF comprises the 10 ASEAN members plus Australia, Canada, China, the 15-member European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, modern Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, toward the south Korea and the U.S.

The ARF is the barely inter-government forum of its kind in succession political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo recently made knowns International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group