Peters heads to rescheduled Summit meeting

  • Winston Peters
Foreign Affairs

Foreign Minister Winston Peters heads to Cebu, in the Philippines, tomorrow to attend the East Asia Summit (EAS) meeting of Foreign Ministers, which was postponed in early December.

The original Ministerial meeting, and the following Leaders Summit, was cancelled after Cebu was threatened by a strong cyclone.

The East Asia Summit brings together leaders and ministers from the 10 countries making up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN+3 group (China, Japan and South Korea), and Australia, New Zealand and India.

The Foreign Ministers’ meeting this Friday precedes the Leaders' Summit, which will take place on January 15.

Ministers will discuss energy security, education, finance, avian flu and disaster mitigation and preparedness. They will also talk about how the work of the EAS can complement that of other regional bodies such as APEC.

“New Zealand is very pleased to be part of the East Asia Summit process. It is an important, outward-looking regional grouping and we are fully committed to its success," Mr Peters said.