After postponing the 37th round of formal exploratory talks today, the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines, agreed to meet again for the formal peace negotiation in the second week of April, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

Instead of holding the formal talks, both parties held a "special meeting" in Malaysia today, they said in a joint statement signed by government peace panel chairperson Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and her MILF counterpart Mohagher Iqbal.

"The special meeting... ended with a firm commitment of the two parties to continue the talks in an expeditious manner," they said.

During the special meeting, the government and the MILF discussed the composition of the Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) and the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP), the convening of the Transition Commission in the first week of April 2013, and the Terms of Reference of the Task Force Sajahatra Bangsamoro.

Should the formal talks push through, they could have discussed the remaining three annexes - the power-sharing, wealth-sharing, and normalisation - of the framework agreement on the Bangsamoro, Xinhua reported.

Both parties inked last month the annex on transitional arrangements and modalities. The four annexes will form part of the comprehensive peace agreement that will pave the road for the creation of a Bangsamoro entity to replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and will end the four decades armed struggle in southern Philippines.

- Bernama