Joint meetings to discuss Manus: Morrison

Australia and PNG will hold monthly ministerial meetings asylum seekers, with the Manus Island riot an "early focus".

Australia and Papua New Guinea will hold monthly ministerial meetings about asylum seekers. (AAP)

Australia and Papua New Guinea will work to "synthesise" the various inquiries into the recent riot on Manus Island as part of monthly meetings on the asylum seeker deal between the two countries.

After meeting the PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato and Attorney-General Kerenga Kua over the weekend, Immigration Minister Scott Mr Morrison announced both countries had agreed to the ministerial forums on the resettlement arrangements, aimed at denying asylum seekers entry into Australia.

The February 17 riot, in which Iranian man Reza Berati died, would be an "early focus" of the monthly meetings that will also involve Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

The Abbott government last week announced details of an independent review into the violence at the PNG detention centre, to be headed by the former secretary of the Attorney-General's Department Robert Cornall.

Mr Morrison on Sunday said Australia and PNG had agreed to synthesise their respective inquiries, which also includes a local police investigation and coronial inquiry.

Co-ordination would ensure "a clear statement of the facts" and a "shared understanding of the findings and implications of these events for the ongoing management of the centre and the resettlement process", the statement from Mr Morrison said.

The first Joint Ministerial Forum with PNG will be held in April.