Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to Indonesia this week to represent New Zealand in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations hosted Ministerial meetings in Jakarta.
“Aotearoa New Zealand is one of ASEAN’s oldest Dialogue Partners, and its important New Zealand’s voice is represented as we collaborate with partners on a range of development, economic, security, and environmental cooperation activities that affect our region,” Mahuta says.
In addition to the ASEAN-New Zealand Foreign Ministers’ meeting, Minister Mahuta will also participate in the annual Foreign Ministers’ meetings of the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum.
“These forums bring together ASEAN and its key Indo-Pacific partners to reaffirm the importance our regional structures and institutions play in maintaining a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mahuta says.
“These meetings also provide a valuable opportunity to engage with partners on more strategic issues facing our wider home region, and advance practical cooperation in areas such as maritime security, counter terrorism, transnational crime, and cyber security.
“New Zealand strongly condemns the military coup in Myanmar, and we will be strongly advocating the importance of ASEAN centrality in resolving this crisis,” Mahuta says.
The Minister will have several bilateral meetings with counterparts from ASEAN and other Indo-Pacific partners including Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore and Timor Leste in the margins of these ASEAN-led meetings.
ASEAN comprises ten South East Asian countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Timor-Leste is beginning the process of accession as the eleventh member of ASEAN.
