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The highest-level diplomatic gathering in the Indo-Pacific this year is under way in The Philippines, and New Zealand has made sure it has a seat at the table. Carla Teng-Westergaard reports from Manila .
The Philippines this week is hosting the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) and Related Meetings, drawing foreign ministers and secretaries from across Southeast Asia and its dialogue partners. Among them is New Zealand Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters, who travelled to Manila from July 20 to 24 as part of what he has described as a core of the Government's Foreign Policy Reset, lifting New Zealand's relationships across Southeast Asia.
Peters' visit carries extra weight this year: the Philippines and New Zealand are marking the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations. Alongside the multilateral sessions, Peters is expected to hold a series of bilateral meetings and sign cooperation agreements with Philippine counterparts on the sidelines of the summit, reinforcing a partnership Wellington says has continued to expand across political, economic and regional lines.
New Zealand's presence spans the full week of engagements. Peters will attend the annual ASEAN-New Zealand Post-Ministerial Conference, as well as the Foreign Ministers' Meetings of the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), forums that bring Southeast Asian nations together with major partners including the United States, China, Japan, India and Australia to discuss regional security, economic cooperation and strategic issues.
He joins a heavyweight line-up of visiting ministers, including:
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United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong
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Indian External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
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Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi
along with counterparts from across Southeast Asia, East Asia, North America, Europe, and Latin America.
A Week Built Around ASEAN Centrality
Philippines' Secretary of Foreign Affairs Maria Theresa Lazaro is chairing the week's proceedings, which build on the priorities of the Philippines' 2026 ASEAN Chairship.
On Monday, July 20, briefing reporters at the International Media Center, ASEAN Spokesperson Dominic Xavier Imperial said the meetings would advance the bloc's agenda across its Political-Security, Economic, and Socio-Cultural Community Pillars, echoing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s framing of the Chairship as an effort to strengthen dialogue on regional security, deepen economic integration, and uplift the resilience of ASEAN peoples.
The week opened with the 16th Interface Meeting between ASEAN foreign ministers and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which Imperial said underscores the bloc's commitment to protecting the rights of vulnerable groups in the region.
Ministers also convened the Meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Commission to review the treaty's 2023–2027 Plan of Action, including continued efforts to bring Nuclear Weapon States into the treaty's protocol.
The AMM formally convenes on July 21, where ministers will review ASEAN's progress across its three pillars and are expected to adopt two key outcome documents: the 59th AMM Joint Communiqué, and new Guidelines on the Modalities for Engagement of ASEAN with High Contracting Parties to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), a Philippine Chairship deliverable meant to give non-ASEAN treaty signatories a clearer framework for engagement.
From July 22 to 23, ASEAN ministers hold Post-Ministerial Conferences with external partners, including New Zealand, the United States, China, India, Canada, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union, alongside the 27th ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the 33rd ASEAN Regional Forum, and the 16th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
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