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Australian ex-Defense Minister Angus Houston said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that chances were "still good" to find Malaysian Boeing passenger airliner, which went missing over the Indian Ocean a year ago, TASS reported.

According to Houston, who heads the Joint Agency Coordination Centre overseeing the search for MH370, "the chances of finding it are still good and we should be patient and persist with the search that's ongoing."

"I'm still quietly optimistic that with 57% of the search area, the high-priority area still to be searched, that one day, hopefully very soon, we might wake up and hear that it's been found," he said.

Asked whether the search operation, which is costly, will be curtailed in the nearest future, Houston said he was "not prepared to venture into that territory."

"Suffice it to say it's not Australia's decision," he said." It's something that has to be done in full consultation, in full partnership with Malaysia and China, and I guess later this month there'll probably be a meeting between the three nations at the officials level, probably in preparation for a ministerial meeting some time later on in April or May."

"So, the decisions, the way ahead needs to be decided by the three governments that have substantial interests in the outcome of this search," Houston added.