NZ advances relationship with South East Asia

High-level meetings in Laos this week have emphasised the important role the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) plays in ensuring a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.

"The ASEAN-led Ministerial meetings have been an opportunity to engage with a wide range of partners on critical issues impacting our region," Mr Peters says.

"We reiterated our concern about the situation in Myanmar, tensions in the South China Sea, terrorism, transnational crime and threats to the international rules-based system."

Mr Peters also held bilateral talks with ministerial counterparts from Laos, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Singapore, Norway, India, Philippines, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, as well as the ASEAN Secretary General.

The Minister also met with alumni of the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarship Programme and inaugurated a development project to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable flood prone communities in Laos.

"As New Zealand seeks to strengthen its ties with the South East Asia region more broadly, it is important we leverage and build on our existing people-to-people connections. Our Manaaki Scholarship Programme is a key enabler of this," Mr Peters says.

"New Zealand is committed to working with ASEAN countries across a range of development, economic, security and environmental initiatives and this funding is another demonstration of that."