RI hosts first regional ministerial meeting

RI hosts first regional ministerial meeting

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia will host the first ministerial meeting of the six-
countries of the Southwest Pacific region in Yogyakarta starting
Friday in a bid to improve economic and security cooperation in
the region.

Complementing its 35-year active role in the Association of
Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), Jakarta considers this is the
time to build another regional forum involving countries in the
Southwest Pacific to strengthen peace in the region.

Indonesian foreign affairs minister Hassan Wirayuda said on
Tuesday that the ministers from the participating countries would
explore the possibilities of enhancing political and economic
cooperation between their countries.

"As neighboring countries in the Southwest Pacific region, it
will be beneficial to discuss common interests affecting the
region," Hassan said.

"It is important to foster closer relations with other
neighboring countries after 35 years during which we have been
mainly focused on ASEAN, while we also have so many other
neighbors," he added.

The meeting will be participated in by foreign ministers from
six countries, Indonesia, as the initiator, the Philippines,
Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the newly born state
of East Timor.

At the end of the meeting, the ministers will adopt a joint
statement, which will cover both economic and security issues.

The economic issues will include increasing trade flows among
participating countries, while the political issues will cover
terrorism and transnational crime.

The idea of establishing the Southwest Pacific forum was
first mooted by former president Abdurrahman Wahid in 2000, with
the first senior officials' meeting being held last June in Bali.

In his report to the House of Representatives, Hassan said the
forum provided a vehicle for maintaining dialog with the new
state of East Timor, which had yet to decide whether it should be
part of the Southeast Asian countries or the Pacific countries.

Another objective of the forum was to express Jakarta's strong
desire to address the many security issues in the region.