Two new mechanisms in handling cybercrime have been established under the domain of the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC), according to an ASEAN Secretariat press release.

The first SOMTC Working Group on Cybercrime, which was held in Singapore on May 27, finalised an ASEAN roadmap on combating online violations. The plan aims for enhanced regional cooperation on capacity building and training, law enforcement, regulation and legal matters and information exchanges.

The meeting was followed by the Inaugural ASEAN-Japan Cybercrime (AJCC) Dialogue the next day. This dialogue was a follow-up to the commitment made at the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit in December 2013. During the dialogue, ASEAN member states and Japan discussed the enhancement of practical and strategic cooperation in fighting cybercrime. The Terms of Reference of the Dialogue was also finalised at the meeting.

The series of meetings then culminated in the ASEAN-Japan Counter-Terrorism (AJCT) Dialogue, convened for the 9th round on May 29-30 in Singapore. It reviewed the progress of ASEAN-Japan cooperation in counter-terrorism, including the status of projects and activities under the current strategic phase.

The projects covered areas relevant to counter-terrorism on transport security, including aviation security, border control and immigration. Also discussed were inland water management, maritime security, cyber-terrorism and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNE).-VNA