The 5th Southwest Pacific Dialogue, to be hosted by
the Philippines on 31 July 2007, will be held at the
sidelines of the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in
Manila, Philippines and chaired by the Foreign Affairs
Secretary Alberto G. Romulo.
The Southwest
Pacific Dialogue (SWPD) is a forum for the discussion
of political, security, economic, social and cultural
issues. Its aim is to promote peace, stability, and
prosperity among countries in the Southwest Pacific
region. Countries participating are Australia, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Timor Leste and
the Philippines.
The SWPD was an
initiative of Indonesia in 2000, originally intended
as an instrument to help promote Indonesia’s
domestic and external interests in the Southwest
Pacific after the collapse of Soeharto’s centralized
authoritarian rule and amid Indonesia’s weakening
grip on its eastern provinces.
The First
Ministerial Meeting of the SWPD was held in Jogjakarta,
Indonesia on 05 October 2002. During that meeting,
ministers from participating countries adopted the
Jogjakarta Declaration on the Establishment of the
Southwest Pacific Dialogue. The Dialogue is based on
the following principles: open regionalism, equality
of members, non-interference in the domestic affairs
of each other, and flexibility of approach in a spirit
of mutual understanding and accommodation.
For the past
four ministerial meetings, the Ministers discussed a
broad range of issues including terrorism, interfaith
dialogue, disaster management, culture and education,
pandemics, and people-to-people interaction.
At the 5th
Ministerial Meeting of the SWPD at this year’s AMM/PMC/ARF,
the Ministers will discuss developments in
the Southwest Pacific sub-region and on the
opportunities for intergovernmental cooperation. The
exchange of views will be on the subject of
counter-terrorism, maritime security, interfaith
dialogue, and people-to-people contact. The countries
will endeavor to translate them into concrete
activities that would strengthen the ties that bind
the 6 countries.
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