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.