INDONESIA’S DELEGATION TO APEC SOM I 2007:

CONTRIBUTING TO ENHANCE REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ADVANCING INDONESIA’S INTERESTS

Canberra - 22 January, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials have begun their first meetings for the 2007 APEC year hosted by Australia on January 15.  The meeting will be the first of a number of events that will draw delegates from APEC’s 21 Member Economies and culminate with the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Sydney on September 8-9.

The series of meetings that will continue until January 26 will address many of the issues raised by APEC Leaders in Hanoi last year, including dealing with Regional Economic Integration, Behind-the-border Structural Reform, Energy Security and APEC Reform. Areas that will be discussed at other supporting meetings include counter-terrorism and avian influenza pandemic preparedness.  

Indonesia’s participation at the APEC Senior Official’s meeting, apart from contributing to the effort of enhancing regional cooperation, is to ensure that any benefits that APEC offer could directly contribute to the domestic development progress, such as capacity-building assistance and transfer of knowledge/ information on best practices. In 2007 Indonesia will oversee a project on Stocktaking of Bilateral and Regional Anti-Corruption Arrangements Between/Among APEC Member Economies; capacity building activities on APEC-OECD Integrated Checklist on Regulatory Reform in the Competition Policy and Deregulation Aspects; a workshop on Tsunami Preparedness and Resilience through Research, Extension, Education and Training, and a Symposium on the Methodology for Implementing International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures under the Australian Fumigation Accreditation Scheme (AFAS).

In coping with the rampant natural disasters and emergencies in the region, Indonesia and Australia have been entrusted to hold the Chairmanship of the APEC Task Force on Emergency Preparedness until March 2008. One important initiative to be led by Indonesia would include the stocktaking of regional gaps in the field of emergency preparedness.  

Canberra, 22 January 2007

Media inquiries: Indonesian Embassy Information Affairs, +612 6250 8642