Aussie, Kiwi plan new W. Pacific forum

Aussie, Kiwi plan new W. Pacific forum

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP): Aiming at strengthening ties
between nations in the West Pacific, Australian and New Zealand
on Saturday said they want to establish a new forum in the
region.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff and his Australian
counterpart, Alexander Downer, told reporters they hoped to start
drafting a framework for the new body early next year.

The West Pacific Forum would include the Philippines,
Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor as well as Australia
and New Zealand.

The forum would be aimed at strengthening trade and defense
ties between the nations, the ministers said.

The forum would cover a broad range of nations that have in
recent months suffered strained relations - Australia and
Indonesia in particular are still working to heal the diplomatic
wounds caused by Canberra's high profile role in restoring peace
to East Timor after the former Indonesian province voted in 1999
for independence.

A joint statement released by the ministers stressed the need
for peace and stability in other parts of the Pacific.

Downer and Goff said they were encouraged by progress in the
Solomon Islands, where a peace deal was recently brokered between
two militias who had been fighting for two years over jobs and
land.

In a promising development, members of one of the militias,
the Malaitan Eagle Force, on Friday handed 119 weapons to
international peace monitors, the ministers said.

Downer, who flew to the Solomon Islands after his meeting with
Goff, said the country would suffer if peace were not cemented.

"Without peace the place is doomed; living standards will just
spiral downwards," Downer said.