Ministers or officials from 26 nations, including US Attorney-General John Ashcroft, began talks Wednesday in Indonesia's bomb-scarred Bali island on ways to fight regional terrorism.
Indonesia and Australia, co-hosts of the two-day conference, earlier Wednesday signed an initial agreement to exchange information on money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.
"Co-operation between countries to attack money laundering activities is a significant contributor to fighting transnational crime, including terrorism," said Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock.
The two neighbours say their unprecedented joint investigation into the Bali night-club bombings of October 2002 is a model which the rest of the region can learn from.
"There's a lot of trust that's developed between the Australian and the Indonesian police through this process," said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on the eve of the meeting.
"So that is a bit of a template for the region," the Australian Associated Press quoted Downer as saying.
Some 35 people have been arrested for the blasts which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians. Most have been tried in open court and sentenced, with three receiving a death sentence.
But some top Bali suspects are still at large and security was strict in the Nusa Dua luxury resort district of Bali, whose economy is still suffering the effects of the blasts.
The Indonesia-based and al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) carried out the Bali bombings, one of a series of bloody attacks or attempted attacks by the network in Southeast Asia against Western and other targets.
The host nations will propose that an anti-terror centre be set up in Indonesia to improve co-ordination and training. Indonesia is also preparing a draft for a convention on terrorism to be signed by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Downer said that if agreed, the centre could see more Australian federal police officers based in Indonesia as a source of advice and intelligence for the region.
Apart from Ashcroft, the US State Department's counter-terrorism co-ordinator is attending the meeting. Indonesia's foreign ministry says the high-level American presence is a "manifestation of US co-operation" in fighting extremism.
Police with automatic weapons guarded the area around the conference venue, the Grand Hyatt hotel. Military police and army officers were also deployed.
Delegates walked through an airport-style metal detector and were checked with a hand-held detector before entering the hall. Witnesses said Ashcroft was not checked as he strode through.
The meeting was closed to the press apart from a formal opening scheduled for later Wednesday by President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
The two top Bali investigators, Indonesia's I Made Mangku Pastika and Graham Ashton of the Australian Federal Police, are among those who will address the conference.
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