Japan said today it would dispatch an expert to help the economic development of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, which is torn by a Muslim separatist rebellion.

The move will be in cooperation with Malaysia, which has deployed monitors to help in a peace process Manila has initiated with the guerrillas, said Yoshinori Katori, press secretary to Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

Katori was speaking after a meeting between the Malaysian and Japanese foreign minisers on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) annual meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

"Japan has decided to send a person, not for security but (to help in the) social and econonomic development of Mindanao," Katori said.

"We have agreed that we (Malaysia and Japan) cooperate very closely... The Japanese government will take care of the development, economic and social issues."

Malaysia leads a 63-member international monitoring team tasked with preserving a truce signed in 2003 between the Philippine government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Exploited by militants

The expert, to be chosen this year, would have to survey the region first to determine the required projects but Katori said this could include funding for farm irrigation, health care, education and water supply needs.

Mindanao boasts rich natural resources, but years of separatist insurgency and neglect by the central government in Manila have stalled its economic development.

Security analysts fear the economic conditions could be exploited by militant groups. A Southeast Asia-based militant group with links to Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah, is believed to have clandestine training bases on Mindanao.

Apart from the MILF, the kidnapping group Abu Sayyaf, private armed groups of political warlords and remnants of a former separatist organisation that signed a peace pact with the government operate in Mindanao.

The mainstream MILF has been battling the government for nearly 30 years in a bid to carve out a separate state for the country's minority Muslims.