AKARTA (AFP) – Australia and Indonesia agreed on Wednesday to further discuss plans for a refugee centre in East Timor to stem the flow of asylum seekers through Southeast Asia on their way to Australia.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said after meeting Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa that Jakarta would send officials to further talks on development of the facility.

"Minister Natalegawa agreed to make his officials available in the coming weeks to further develop the proposal," Bowen told reporters.

"He certainly understood the importance of a processing centre in terms of a broader regional framework," he said.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the processing centre was still an idea.

"We return to the position to listen to their explanation. Our foreign affairs minister stressed its importance as part of a regional framework," Faizasyah said.

Australia and East Timor agreed on Tuesday to form a joint working group to develop the processing centre to stem the flow of asylum seekers heading to Australia.

East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta previously said the proposed centre to be built in his impoverished nation had to be temporary and could cost about 30 million dollars.

Ramos-Horta dismissed reports of widespread domestic opposition to the proposals, saying people would agree once he explained the humanitarian imperatives.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard first raised the proposal for a regional migrant detention facility based in East Timor in July amid a surge in the arrival of undocumented migrants by boat in Australian waters.

Thousands of asylum seekers head through Southeast Asian countries on their way to Australia every year and many link up with people smugglers in Indonesia for the dangerous voyage.

About 100 boats carrying more than 4,000 people have arrived this year, in which it has become a politically sensitive issue for Gillard's fragile Labor-led coalition.