CANBERRA, Aug. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Friday that he agreed with France's top terrorist investigator that Australia could be the target of terrorism.

    Howard made the statement after Britain's Financial Times newspaper quoted French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere as saying that he believes al-Qaeda, an international terrorist network, is preparing an attack on a big financial center in Asia, such as Sydney, Tokyo or Singapore to undermine investor confidence in the region.

    Bruguiere said the capacity or desire of the al-Qaeda to destabilize the region are somewhat neglected.

    Howard said that he agreed Australia could be a terror target.

    "I have said for a long time this country can't imagine that it' s free from the prospect of a terrorist attack," Howard was quoted by Australian Associated Press as saying.

    "We are, in my view, well prepared but the important thing is not to have an effective response mechanism after the attack, the aim is to try and stop it occurring in the first place," he said.

    "The best way you do that is by having as good an intelligence as possible and also working very hard to make sure that any people within our own community that might have a disposition to behave like a terrorist is identified and dealt with," he said.

    After last month's London terrorist attacks, Australia became the only country which has not experienced terror attacks on its homeland among core countries which joined the US-led coalition forces in Iraq.    Enditem