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ormer vice president Jusuf Kalla has been unanimously reelected as the president of the Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International (CAPDI).

CAPDI council members reelected Kalla on Tuesday at CAPDI's general assembly, citing his ideal character and proven track record in creating peace at home and abroad.

Kalla, who also chairs the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), has good relationships with the leaders of countries torn by conflict, such as Myanmar and Palestine.

'Jusuf Kalla has a strong commitment and desire to create peace. This is in line with CAPDI's mission as an organization that wants to form political leadership in Asia as well as cross-border communications,' CAPDI president José de Venecia said after closing CAPDI's fourth plenary and second general assembly.

In addition to reelecting its chairman, the council also formulated the 21-point Makassar Declaration that will become CAPDI's working program.

The declaration was signed by 39 CAPDI members, including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen; his deputy, Sok An; Kalla; former Filipino president Fidel Ramos; former Nepalese prime minister Madhave Kumar; and de Venecia, who is a former speaker of the Filipino parliament.

The declaration is divided into seven fields: ideology, politics, economy and environment, social, education and culture, defense and security. The focus, however, is on conflict resolution through peaceful means and reconciliation as well as anticipating the impact of climate change, which is considered a threat that will create conflict in the future.

CAPDI also said that peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region depended on a conducive regional environment. In this context, the organization was calling all parties to be involved and solve tensions in the Korean Peninsula, thee South China Sea, the Middle East and southern Thailand and the Malaysia-Philippines dispute and ethnic conflict in Myanmar.

Other issues discussed included terrorism and transnational crime, such as drugs, cybercrime and human trafficking.

Meanwhile, Kalla said that to resolve conflicts and create peace, all parties must be involved, including governments, political parties, civil society groups, academics, the private sector and the media.

That was why, CAPDI was established, gathering people from various backgrounds, including leaders and former leaders, Kalla said.

'We want to push constructive dialogues between political parties, civil societies, academics and all stakeholders to carry out moderate political ideology to prevent conflicts,' Kalla said.

CAPDI members are scheduled to meet in China next week to discuss culture and environmental issues. CAPDI was established in 2006 and now has members from 27 countries.

'We will discuss a unique environmental development concept to achieve environmentally based harmony,' said Sok An.

The next conference will be held in four years, During the event in Makassar, three cities were touted as candidates for the next event: Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Tokyo.

CAPDI also established a division to handle research and development in cooperation with Paramadina University, the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and Hasanuddin University in Makassar.