JAKARTA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Top officials of immigration affairs from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on Wednesday to strengthen coordination on immigration related issue among the countries and neighbors in the region to improve the management of migratory flows and to prevent transnational crimes from happening.

    A joint statement issued after the two days meeting said that the meeting continued to recognize the need for strengthening collaboration and cooperation on immigration related issue with ASEAN Dialogue Partners, regional and international organizations,.

    The delegates from the 10 ASEAN member countries agreed to strengthen the sharing of immigration Intelligence Information and the progress of technology being used.

    The officials also agreed to hold the ASEAN Immigration Intelligence Forum (AIIF) annually and back to back with the Director-General of Immigration ASEAN Departments and Head of Consular Affairs Division of the Ministries for Foreign Affairs (DGICM).

    The second AIIF meeting was held on Monday (Nov. 13) here and discussed and finalized the Term of Reference and Sharing Framework on Immigration Intelligence, which have been adopted and endorsed by the meeting.

    The delegates welcomed the offer by Laos to host the 11th DGICM in Vientiane in 2007.

    The second ASEAN DGICM consultation with Australia was also held here on Wednesday, discussing the possible areas for cooperation.

    The meeting agreed to pursue in 2007 two initiates on strengthening immigration training cooperation in the region and practioner-level exchanges of experiences on immigration investigations.

    The officials agreed that the Third ASEAN-Australia Immigration Consultation would be held in conjunction with the 11th Meeting of the DGICM.