"We wish to build cooperation by sharing intelligence data to assure security in each member country of IORA," Australias Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said at a press conference after an IORA meeting.
"I have discussed with other member countries and they have agreed that one of the common challenges in the Indian Ocean region is terrorism and radicalism," she said.
Australia and its facilities abroad have often been targeted. The one that has drawn much public attention in Indonesia was certainly the explosion of a ton car bomb at the gate of the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004.
Besides direct threats from terrorism, Australia like Indonesia, and a number of other Indian Ocean Rim countries is also facing radicalism.
The head of Australias intelligence agency, Duncan Lewis, in February revealed that more than 110 Australian citizens had been in Syria to fight for ISIS and around 200 have been actively defending ISIS in that country.
With regards to the big number of Australian citizens that have joined ISIS, Bishop said Indian Ocean Rim countries must cooperate to anticipate the return of the terrorists to their respective countries.
"We need to work together to trace the return of the ISIS fighters," she said.
Indonesias Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General for Asia-Pacific and Africa, Desra Percaya confirmed that IORA member countries are in agreement regarding the threats of terrorism.
The association even plans to issue a special declaration regarding terrorism and radicalism.
Desra and Bishop did not specifically mention economic discrepancies in member countries that have often been blamed for causing terrorism.
Bishops view about the need of international cooperation had also been separately agreed upon earlier by think tank Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict led by Sidney Jones, an expert on terrorism.
On Tuesday, she released a study criticizing the Indonesian government for ignoring potential cross-border terrorism that has now been made easier due to advancement in communication technology.
"In the past two years ISIS has built new cooperation in Southeast Asia," Jones said in a press statement.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
