The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its security partners in Asia and the Pacific jointly pledged Tuesday to strengthen measures to plug the financial pipeline used by terrorist organizations in the region.
Foreign ministers from the 10-member ASEAN, along with the United States, Japan, China, the European Union and eight other members of the ASEAN Regional Forum said in a statement that they had mapped out cooperative measures to block terrorists' access to the region's financial system.
The Statement on Measures Against Terrorist Financing was issued after the ministers ended 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 Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S.