The Australian federal government will finalise the asylum-seeker swap deal with Malaysia in coming weeks, said Immigration Minister Chris Bowen.

Expressing his satisfaction with the negotiation progress between the two nations, he said: “The agreement would be signed in weeks.”

The agreement will see up to 800 new boat arrivals to be relocated to Malaysia for processing, in return for Australia resettling 4,000 Malaysian refugees, China’s Xinhua news agency reported today.

Bowen added that Australia is keen to pursue similar agreements with other nations in the Pacific-Asia region.

Since the deal was first announced on May 7, 107 boat people had been picked up in waters off the Western Australian coast.

Immigration Department confirmed that these 107 people will all be processed overseas, but it is unclear when and where they will be sent, as the deal with Malaysia is yet to be formalised.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said these asylum seekers were now stuck in legal limbo on Christmas Island, including seventeen children, some as young as four, and nine were unaccompanied minors.

“(Immigration Minister Chris Bowen) is undermining his role as guardian to protect these kids simply to uphold what is a poorly patched together agreement with (Malaysia) which has not signed the refugee convention,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

- Bernama