Inaugural ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Track II dialogue
Dr Richard Grant, Executive Director of Asia:NZ, led a delegation of representatives to the first ever ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Track II Dialogue in Malaysia in early December 2008.
The event was held at the instigation of ASEAN-ISIS, the umbrella organisation of the Institutes of Strategic and International Studies in the ten ASEAN member states, and of Asialink Melbourne, the sister organisation in Australia to the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Senior delegations from eight ASEAN countries as well as Australia and New Zealand, attended the symposium.
The primary aim of the Dialogue was to provide an avenue for informal and frank discussion of the major strategic issues affecting the Asia-Pacific, as well as of the role of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand in strengthening peace and security in the region. Critical challenges to the region's continued economic prosperity and steps that ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand can undertake to alleviate the effects of spiralling food and fuel prices and slowing economic growth were also discussed by the participants.
Discussions took place across five sessions themed as follows:
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Session 1 — Perspectives on Major Power Relations in the Asia-Pacific Region
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Session 2 — The Role of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand in Strengthening Regional Security
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Session 3 — The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Economic Relationship: Challenges and Opportunities
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Session 4 — The Prospects for an Asia-Pacific Community
- Session 5 — Perspectives on Developments in Myanmar
► Read a commentary on the Dialogue by Dr Mark Rolls, member of the New Zealand delegation.
► Download a copy of the paper by Dr Richard Grant who led the delegation (the paper was not formally tabled at the Dialogue).
► Download a copy of the paper by Dr Mark Rolls from Session 2.
► Download two commentaries by Gary Hawke on the East Asia Congress and the AANZ Dialogue
► Read a summary by Charlie Gao, member of Asia:NZ's Young Leaders Network, who was an observer at the event.
► Download a copy of the paper by S. Wiryono, CSIS Indonesia
New Zealand participants
Dr Richard Grant, Asia:NZ Executive Director; Mr Brian Lynch, Director of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs; H.E. Mr David Kersey, New Zealand High Commissioner to Malaysia; Dr Mark Rolls, Senior Lecturer & Graduate Adviser, Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Waikato; Professor Gary Hawke, Former Head of the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington; Mr Richard Tankersley, Immediate Past Chairman, Malaysia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, and Mr Charlie Gao, member of Asia:NZ’s Young Leaders Network.
Background
Australia and New Zealand were among ASEAN's first Dialogue Partners. Soon after the establishment of formal relations between ASEAN and the two countries, the first ASEAN-Australia and ASEAN-New Zealand Summits were held in 1977. Austra lia and New Zealand are active supporters and participants of ASEAN initiatives such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit. In August 2008, negotiations were concluded on the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), which will further strengthen the already extensive economic linkages between ASEAN and the two countries.
