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akarta and Singapore intend to involve ASEAN’s external dialogue partners in the regional intelligence initiative dubbed Our Eyes, the former’s top defense chief said on Thursday amid concerns of a lack of surveillance and tracing technology.

Speaking at the annual Indonesia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat in Bali, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said Jakarta and Singapore had agreed to train intelligence personnel and provide them with greater capabilities in accurate strategic information acquisition.

To this end, Singapore’s armed forces planned to conduct joint counterterrorism training with its Indonesian counterparts within the next two years, he added.

“Apart from that, we also considered the need to strengthen Our Eyes by involving ASEAN partners like the United States, Australia and Japan,” Ryamizard said.

He cited the need for outside help — such as providing satellite technology — in the tracing and surveillance of terrorist groups in the region.

Singapore has played a significant role in some of Indonesia’s defense strategies, including the Our Eyes initiative and the trilateral cooperation on counterterrorism with Malaysia and the Philippines (Indomalphi).

The city-state had offered its Fusion Centre information hub at Changi Airport as a training platform and the embryonic nucleus of the Our Eyes project, Ryamizard said.

Our Eyes was initially put forward in October last year as a mini-Interpol involving six ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines.