The Philippines welcomed Wednesday the interest of Japan to become part of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) overseeing the ceasefire and peace negotiations between the government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said it was good news that being the source of the biggest official development assistance to the south, Japan would want to get involved in the peace process.

Japan's interest in putting an end to the trouble in southern Philippines came from the ceasefire agreement signed between the government and the MILF in 2003, Ermita said.

Two Japanese diplomats met with the MILF leaders on Sunday to signify their government's intention to join the IMT, earlier reports said. They said they were impressed by the commitment of both sides in the current peace talks.

They said they also wanted to find out in what other areas Japan could contribute to advance the peace process.

The IMT, led by Malaysia, was created by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to monitor the ceasefire between the Philippine military and the MILF while peace talks are going on in Kuala Lumpur.

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chair for political affairs, said his group welcomed Japan's participation in the peace process.

The 12,000-member separatist MILF is observing a three-year-old ceasefire with Manila. The peace talks have bogged down on land and eminent domain issues but the two sides hope to sign a peace treaty later this year.

Source: Xinhua