PHNOM PENH -- Southeast Asian police chiefs must step up cooperation if they are to stem a tide of drugs, money laundering, arms dealing, human trafficking and terrorism in the region, a Cambodian minister said on Tuesday.

Police chiefs from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday began a two-day conference to come up with ways to combat organized crime and terror networks.

"We must encourage international action to strengthen cooperation within all ASEAN members," said Sar Kheng, co-Interior Minister for Cambodia, which hosts the meeting.

Police chiefs needed to overcome differences in the political, administrative and legal systems of member states.

He called for renewed efforts to make ASEAN drugs-free by 2015.

At a summit in Brunei last November, ASEAN leaders pledged closer cooperation in the fight against global terror networks.

Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, cross-border cells of suspected militants have been discovered throughout Southeast Asia, underlining calls for a regional approach to crime-fighting.

In April, Singapore said a member of a radical Islamic group planned to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport. The government said it had evidence the group was part of a network spanning Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The three ASEAN nations with the largest Muslim populations -- Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines -- signed a pact earlier this month to counter terrorism and crush a network they say is bent on creating a single Islamic state in the region.