Piracy attacks in Asia continue to decrease with 100 incidents reported last year, a 26 percent decline compared to 2006, the information sharing center for a regional agreement against piracy said on Thursday.
The latest report by the Singapore-based information sharing center shows that of the incidents 77 were actual and 23 were attempted incidents.
The piracy attacks in 2007 were also "generally less violent compared to those in the previous four years," said the report.
It categorizes incidents into three levels, including very significant, moderately significant and less significant.
Most of the decline last year took place in moderately significant incidents, down 63 percent compared to 2006, said the report.
However, the number of less significant incidents remained fairly consistent between 2006 and 2007, said the report.
It also shows that less piracy attacks were reported in the port of Chittagong, Bangladesh and the Makassar Strait, Indonesia.For example, there were only 6 attacks reported in the Makassar Strait last year, compared to a yearly average of 23 incidents between 2003 and 2005.
The report was issued during the second annual meeting of the information sharing center's governing council.
The center was set up in November 2006, under the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), aiming to harness the collective resources and expertise of regional governments to combat piracy.
The center also announced on Thursday that the Republic of Korea, member country of the ReCAAP, will contribute 100,000 U.S. dollars annually to the center while another member country China will contribute 50,000 U.S. dollars.
The ReCAAP, which was concluded in Tokyo in November 2004 and came into force in September 2006, is the first regional government-to-government agreement aiming to boost anti-piracy collaboration among members. It has 14 member countries now.
Source: Xinhua
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