Downer winding up SE Asia tour

Downer winding up SE Asia tour

BANGKOK (AFP): Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer paid a courtesy call on Thai Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa yesterday as he wound up a three-nation tour of southeast Asia.

Downer, who took office last month after the National Party won general elections in Australia, has said the main goal of his visit is to underscore Canberra's determination to keep Asia a foreign policy priority.

In an interview published yesterday in The Nation daily, he said Australia had no intention of changing the previous government's policy toward Myanmar which involved neither encouraging nor discouraging trade.

Downer, who earlier visited Indonesia and Singapore, defended what he termed his "constructive approach" to discussions with Jakarta over the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.