US open to expanding COPMIN cooperation in ASEAN, including Indonesia
Jakarta (ANTARA) – The United States is open to expanding the involvement of Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, in future editions of the U.S.-Pacific Islands Conference of Police Ministers (COPMIN).
F. Cartwright Weiland, the US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), said cross-border crime in the Pacific region was becoming increasingly worrying, and that Washington welcomed cooperation from all sides to tackle it.
“We welcome continued engagement with partners throughout the Pacific and the Americas who share a commitment to disrupting transnational criminal networks that threaten our collective security,” Weiland said in response to an ANTARA question during an online media briefing followed from Jakarta on Tuesday.
The inaugural U.S.-Pacific Islands COPMIN was held in Los Angeles, California, on 21–22 October 2026, bringing together stakeholders from the US, Pacific Island countries, Ecuador and the Philippines.
The forum aims to strengthen law-enforcement cooperation against drug-trafficking syndicates, online scams and other cybercrime, money laundering, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Weiland said the Philippines’ participation this year gave attendees an opportunity to share knowledge on tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and strengthening maritime security.
He said the Philippines, as an archipelagic country, had experiences and challenges similar to those of Indonesia and Pacific Island nations in monitoring and governing maritime areas and addressing illegal fishing.
“These are real challenges faced by the Philippines, by Indonesia, and by many other countries as well… The Philippines joining COPMIN this year certainly creates a real opportunity for similar countries to become involved in the future,” Weiland said.
He added that the US was also working to increase cooperation with South Asian countries. Washington funds various training programmes for maritime law-enforcement agencies in South Asia to help disrupt drug supply chains across the Indo-Pacific.
“We are currently working with almost all law-enforcement agencies in the Pacific region, and the INL Bureau also has representatives in various parts of South Asia,” Weiland said.
However, Weiland could not confirm whether COPMIN would be held regularly or which countries might join the partnership in the future.
He described the forum as an important initiative and said he hoped it would continue.
“I do not know whether there are already plans to hold COPMIN 2.0, but I think I speak for all of us when I say there is a strong desire for this not to be the last conference, and for us to build on it further, perhaps as soon as next year,” he added.
At the 2026 U.S.-Pacific Islands COPMIN, the US State Department also launched a US$4 million (around Rp72.56 billion) partnership to combat trans-Pacific and Western Hemisphere criminal syndicates, called the Regional Interdiction Partnership for Trafficking Intelligence, Disruption, and Enforcement (RIPTIDE).
Working with INTERPOL, the programme will complement ongoing regional information-sharing efforts involving police agencies in its 196 member countries, supporting evidence seizures, investigations, and the arrests of operational masterminds and financiers.