SOM II APEC Meeting Expected To Focus On Three Priorities

Surabaya, East Java, April 18 (Antara) - Participants of the Second Senior Officials` Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held here on Thursday and Friday are expected to focus on three priorities. The three priorities are Bogor Goals, sustainable economic growth and connectivity improvement, Indonesia`s chief delegate Yuri O. Thamrin said after welcoming the participants from 21 countries and international organizations upon arrival here on Thursday. "We hope they will focus to discuss the three priorities," he said adding that the priorities are a mandate from the ministerial and summit meetings in Vladivostok, Russia, last year. He said based on the Bogor Goals APEC members must remain focused on and committed to the agreements that have been made to realize the goals while supporting for the success of the 9th WTO ministerial meeting to be held in Bali at the end of this year. "We will soon discuss trade and investment issues including connectivity, local contents, fishery subsidy, green products and capacity building," he said. Thamrin said APEC members must also assure sustainable and equal economic growth and so discussions should be focused on health, small and medium business, women`s role, food security, energy, environment, marine resources, forestry and other financial-related issues. "The Indonesian delegation plans to present its initiatives in a paper on `Renewable Energy for Energy Security in the APEc region`," he said. He said participants should also discuss improvement of connectivity in the region including through physical infrastructure development, institutional improvement and others that would smooth communication among peoples in the region. "We only have five months left to discuss all of the issues to produce concrete results for submission to the ministerial and leaders` meetings in Bali in October this year," he said. He said since April 7, 2013 a total of 23 meetings have been held attended by 1,167 delegates from APEC members and 72 invitees.