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round 40 countries in the Asia-Pacific region will convene in Bali from April 14-15 to discuss people smuggling, trafficking and transnational crimes under the Bali Process forum amid the arrival of Rohingya boatpeople from Myanmar to Southeast Asian countries.

During the two-day meeting known as the "Bali Regional Ministerial Conference (BRMC) III, the delegates will discuss the plight of the Rohingya people seeking refugee status.

The forum, launched in 2002, is co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia. The Indonesian delegates include the Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and the Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Mattalata.

"BRMC III is a collaborative effort by more than 40 countries and numerous international agencies to help combat people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related transnational crimes in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond," the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for Malaysia and Thailand in January, allegedly escaping persecution from the military junta. Those captured by the Thai military were towed back out to sea, while those who survived arrived on the shores of Aceh province.

Initially Indonesia said it would send home those refugees identified as "economic migrants", but later said the Foreign Ministry had agreed to work on the issue at the Bali Process forum.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said a team sent by the government and the UNHCR had been working on verifying the status of the Rohingya people living in Sabang and Idi Rayeuk.

Some 400 Rohingya people are currently living in camps on the western tip of Sumatra after they arrived early this year. Malaysia has also become home to thousands of Rohingya in past decades, with numbers registered by the government reaching 14,300.

"Teams from the UNHCR and the government will go to Sabang *again* tomorrow to verify their status," said Faizasyah.

The Myanmar government said they would take home those refugees if verification results said they were from the northern province of Arakan, where the Rohingya people have lived for many generations. The military junta has also agreed to work with the ASEAN Secretariat in relation to the potential repatriations.