I

ndonesia and Australia have agreed to strengthen security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region to stop infiltration by members of militant groups through the influx of migrants from the Middle East.

Speaking after a '€œ2+2'€ ministerial meeting with his counterpart Marise Payne, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said that the deal was secured after both countries learned that terrorist groups could use the migrant crisis, which often throws Indonesia and Australia into a verbal war because of the latter'€™s turn-back policy on boat people, as a new tool to expand their influence in the region.

'€œThis kind of fear is a concern for each of us,'€ Ryamizard said.

In order to step up security cooperation in the region, both Indonesia and Australia will invite the origin countries of undocumented migrants to participate in handling the crisis so that both countries can conduct thorough background checks on migrants to ensure that they are not members of terrorist groups being smuggled into the Asia-Pacific region.

Ryamizard emphasized that both countries would ensure that each undocumented migrant would receive humane treatment, such as being provided with food, clothing and medicine, at detention centers both in Indonesia and Australia.

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants have risked their lives by crossing from Indonesia to reach the Australian territory of Christmas Island, where they hope to apply for asylum.

Many of the migrants die during the journey, but many also die after their boats are turned back by Australia when they are about to reach Australian waters.

The policy, initiated by then prime minister Tony Abbott, infuriated Jakarta on many occasions.

'€œThe basic measure and the most important aspect that we agreed on concerning the migrant issue is how to ensure their safety in the first place. After that we build communications with their countries of origin,'€ Ryamizard said.

Payne said that she had submitted a copy of Australia'€™s newly issued 2016 Defence White Paper to Ryamizard and expected that Indonesia would soon submit its own, which is still being finalized, to Australia.

She further said that Indonesia and Australia would discuss details about the solutions to the migrant problem during the upcoming 2016 Bali Process on people smuggling, human trafficking and other transnational crimes to be held on March 22 and 23 in Bali, which will be cochaired by Indonesia and Australia.

Monday'€™s deal also includes agreements to step up future military training, but no details were provided by the two sides on the matter.

In a separate meeting, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi met her Australian counterpart Julie Bishop for talks to enhance cooperation.

The two ministers will cochair the Bali Process meeting, which is expected to yield a new declaration to ease humanitarian crises following the influxes of refugees to the region.

The ministerial declaration will include a mechanism for responding to the unexpected mass arrival of irregular migrants.

Transnational crime related to people smuggling and trafficking will also receive greater attention at this year'€™s meeting, following the Benjina slavery case.

Representatives from 44 countries have confirmed attendance at the Bali Process, including 13 ministers, eight deputy ministers and senior officials.

The forum will also involve a number of related international organizations, including the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization on Migration (IOM).