Upon the invitation of the President of the Philippines and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Surakiart, as Special Representative of the Thai Prime Minister, attended the formal launching of the Centrist Democrats International CDI Asia Pacific Party and the Global Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation in Manila on 27 January 2006. Dr. Surakiart had the opportunity to meet with distinguished executive members of Centrist Democrats International such as former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, former Belgian Prime Minister Martens, former Norwegian Prime Minister Bondevik, as well as Asian Party leaders who are co-founders of CDI Asia-Pacific. Apart from parliamentarians, there were leaders of all the great religions who attended the Conference.

At the opening ceremony, Dr. Surakiart delivered a speech in which he stressed global interfaith and community building went hand in hand. He underscored the need to “promote and sustain a culture of peace , a mindset of tolerance, and an enduring respect for diversity of values”. He elaborated on the various dimensions of Asia-wide cooperation at the government level, private sector level, and amongst political parties, which serve as a tripod for an Asian community. He stressed that networking amongst Asian political parties would serve as a backbone of regional cooperation of the citizens of the Asia-Pacific region.

As one of the co-founders of Centrist Democrats International (CDI) Asia-Pacific, Dr. Surakiart was a signatory of the Manila Declaration. House Speaker de Venecia conferred upon Dr. Surakiart the highest decoration, the Congressional Medal of Achievement, in recognition of his leadership in Asia.