PHNOM PENH A US-proposed regional anti-terrorism centre to be set up in Malaysia early next year may be opened to countries outside Southeast Asia, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today.

He said final details for the Asean Regional Training Centre for Counter Terrorism were being ironed out but he reiterated it would not involve military operations.

"The idea is to get Asean countries to focus on training and capacity building," he told reporters here ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders' summit tomorrow.

"It does not involve military. It does not involve activities that pertain to security. It is just to develop expertise for us to combat terrorist activities and to allow us to understand the subject better to mete out the necessary measures.