Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines will expand regional maritime and aviation cooperation with a more systematic and organised surveillance to curb smuggling and piracy.

"We plan to enhance the cooperation by focusing on areas of security concern in our waters," Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency director-general Admiral Mohd Amdan Kurish was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying at a seminar in Melaka on Aug. 17.

The four-day seminar on legal aspects of border security in a maritime environment is aimed at enhancing understanding on how officials of the government agencies in the region coordinate and share information on border law enforcement, deal with cross border crimes and related threats including those linked with terrorism.

Mohd Amdan said cooperation, collaboration, exchange of information and multilateral approaches were needed to deal threats in the waters of the region.

On the safety of the vessels plying the Malacca Straits he said only one piracy case was reported so far this year compared with three cases in 2008 and 12 in 2007.

"The security of the Malacca Straits could be further tightened through joint naval patrols as previous efforts had helped reduced piracy," he added.

There had been no coordination in the maritime surveillance and monitoring among the three countries, he said./.