Efforts to beat piracy and prevent terrorism on the high seas in Asia will be the focus of at an international meeting of government and maritime officials in Kuala Lumpur this week.

The two-day meeting which opens tomorrow has been organised by the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

"Piracy in Asia and the Far East continues to escalate both in frequency and in brutality of the attacks," Noel Choong, head of the IMB's Malaysia-based Piracy Reporting Centre, said in a statement.

"The industry views the situation with increasing concern and is seeking a reversal of the trend," he said.

Targets for terrorists

The keynote address on "The Real Threat of Maritime Terrorism - Separating Fact from Fiction", will be presented by US-based terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins.

The pirate-infested Malacca Strait, which slices peninsular Malaysia and Singapore from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has been the subject of particular concern recently.

Governments have expressed fears that the thousands of commercial vessels and oil tankers plying the strait every year could become targets for terrorists from al-Qaeda and its regional affiliate, Jemaah Islamiah.

Malaysia has pledged increased security and recently announced that it would deploy a new paramilitary force in its territorial waters, including the strait. - AFP