French President Francois Hollande and his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino III have agreed to foster cooperation in anti-terrorism while calling for the involvement of the international community.

Both sides have concurred to increase information sharing and work closely to monitor suspected individuals and eradicate causes of terrorism, said Hollande at a press conference after discussions with the Philippine leader on February 26 in Manila as part of his two-day state visit.

For his part, Aquino stated that the two sides will call on the world community in the fight against terrorism and its forms as a scourge to mankind.

He acknowledged that a common problem facing both France and the Philippines is the presence of terrorist cells inside their countries.

The Philippines are currently facing a 300-member Islamic terrorist group in the south, Abu Sayyaf, with close links to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, said Aquino.

Meanwhile, in France , the Yemeni al-Qaeda cell conducted a number of terrorist attacks in early January, including an attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters in Paris that killed 12 people.

During their talks, the French and Philippines leaders also called for united global initiatives on climate change, including the signing of a global agreement on climate change prevention at the 21st United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP-21) to be held in Paris in December.-VNA