Thursday, June 22 2006 11:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: An anti-piracy plan bringing together 16 Asian countries, including India, is to take off on Sept 4 followed by the opening of an Information Sharing Centre (ISC) to provide intelligence to alert ships to possible dangers, officials said Thursday.

The Japanese-initiated Regional Cooperation Agreement on Anti-Piracy (Recaap) is aimed at enhancing multilateral cooperation among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus Japan, India, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Of the 16 countries, 11 have ratified the agreement. Among them are Malaysia and Indonesia, the two key Malacca littoral states. Both have stated their commitment to joining Recaap, the foreign ministry said.

ASEAN groups Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma). The ISC, based in Singapore, expected to be operational before the end of the year, will collect and distribute information relayed to it by participating countries that receive reports from affected vessels or non-government agencies.

It will also analyse patterns of attack.

The London-based International Maritime Bureau's (IMB's) Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur has been the most active agency in monitoring piracy attacks in the region.

In elaborating on the multi-government effort, the ministry said that the ISC will be set up as an independent international organisation with about 15 staff drawn from member countries and an executive director.

"The Government can provide more accurate and more reliable reports on the situation in the region," The Business Times quoted Singapore Shipping Association executive director Daniel Tan as saying.

The number of attacks in the Strait fell from 38 in 2004 to 12 in 2005, according to the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre.

Total attacks around the world last year dropped to 276, compared with 329 in 2004. There were no reported attacks in the Malacca Strait in the first quarter of this year.

The agreement was first proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2001. Pirate attacks, numbering 335 that year, were at their height amid mounting fears that terrorists could sabotage shipping lanes.