RI hosts first Southwest Pacific forum meeting

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

Indonesia takes one step further toward realizing the idea of establishing a Southwest Pacific forum by hosting the first meeting of senior officials from six countries in the region.

The meeting here on Saturday, which was attended by senior officials from Indonesia and the five neighboring countries of Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and East Timor, discussed ideas and possible guidelines to establish the dialog forum.

In his opening speech, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the main objective of the forum was to discuss security, economic and cultural cooperation among countries in the Southwest Pacific.

"The geographic reality tells us that we live with our neighbors and there is a need to closely interact with each other regarding certain issues of mutual concern," the minister said.

The idea of a Southwest Pacific forum was floated two years ago by former President Abdurrahman Wahid, and since then Indonesia had been promoting the idea to the neighboring countries to the south.

At Saturday's meeting, senior officials agreed to the convening of an annual ministerial meeting among participating countries, with the host to be selected alphabetically.

They also agreed that the first ministerial meeting would be held in Indonesia, possibly in Timika, Papua province, in the last week of July.

The ministerial meeting would discuss common issues related to trans-national crime, terrorism, trade and environment.

"It is the time for Indonesia to look to the south and I am sure that this forum will bring benefits to each member country in the future," Hassan said.

He said that the forum was not meant to be another formal regional grouping, contending that all participatory countries in the forum already belonged to different regional groups.

The Southwest Pacific forum, Hassan said, would merely serve as a loose forum to discuss the day-to-day relations among countries in the region.

He also underlined that the forum would not change Indonesia's foreign policy in the region that centers on the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN).

"ASEAN will remain the cornerstone of our foreign policy, but it also will not stop us building close relationships with our neighboring countries in the south," he said.