JAKARTA (PINA) — Southwest Pacific ministers are to meet every year, with their first meeting likely to be in West Papua next month, a meeting in Bali agreed.
It came as Indonesia took a further step toward establishing a Southwest Pacific forum by hosting the first meeting of senior officials from six countries, the Jakarta Post reported.
Attending were senior officials from Indonesia and five neighboring countries: Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor.
They discussed ideas and possible guidelines to establish the dialogue forum, the Jakarta Post said.
The officials agreed that the first ministerial meeting would be held in Indonesia, possibly in Papua province, in the last week of July, the newspaper said.
Resource-rich West Papua, a former Dutch colony bordering Papua New Guinea, is ruled by Indonesia as its province of Papua. It has a growing independence movement.
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 minister said: “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 idea of a Southwest Pacific forum was floated two years ago by then Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Since then Indonesia had been promoting the idea to the neighboring countries to the south, the Jakarta Post reported.
