Nusa Dua, Indonesia, Oct 06: Brunei has signed on to a regional pact calling for cooperation in the fight against terrorism and transnational crime, a statement received today said. The signing came late yesterday ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit which begins tomorrow on this resort island where terrorist bombs killed 202 people almost exactly one year ago.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia are already signatories to the pact which was initiated by The Philippines last year. It calls for coordination, collaboration, dialogue, information exchanges and common approaches to deal with terrorism, money laundering, smuggling, piracy and other crimes.

Security and intelligence agencies have already been cooperating against the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network which police blame for the Bali bombings and other attacks. Authorities say JI has some links to al-Qaeda. Bureau Report