APEC Leaders’ Week opens

JAPAN: Senior officials from members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum met in the Japanese port city of Yokohama on Sunday to make final preparations for this year’s APEC summit and other meetings in the APEC Leaders’ Week.

The senior officials meeting marked the start of the APEC Leaders’ Week in Yokohama, which also includes a Ministerial meeting, a CEO summit and the final economic leaders meeting.

Although leaders will only arrive several days later, security around the meeting venue, located in downtown Yokohama, has been beefed up. Around 21,000 police officers will be on guard at and around the venue.

This year’s APEC chair Japan has presented “Change and Action” as the theme for APEC 2010. During the Leaders’ Week, APEC members will discuss the changes needed to tackle the financial crisis and further integrate the regional economy and the actions to put these changes into practice.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a message on the APEC Japan 2010 official website: “As the world continues to recover from the global financial and economic crisis, dynamic growth in Asia is a driving force in the global economy. The Asia-Pacific region has increasingly established its presence as ‘the center of the global economy’.”

APEC member economies account for 53 percent of the world’s total in terms of gross domestic product and 47 percent of global trade volume.

Yokohama, Sunday, Xinhua