Sydney Announced as 2007 APEC Leaders' Meeting Venue

Australia has announced that Sydney will be the host city for the 2007 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Describing the event as "the most significant international meeting to have been hosted by Australia" the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, said the 2007 APEC Leaders' Meeting is likely to be held in September.

Several thousand people, including the Leaders' and their representatives from each of APEC's 21 Member Economies, are expect to attend the Leaders' Meeting and associated events in Sydney.

Mr. Howard said a number of other ministerial and official meetings taking place as part of APEC Australia 2007 would be held in venues around the country.

"We're certainly very keen to hold as many of those other meetings as we can in other parts of Australia, including all of the states of Australia," Mr. Howard said.

Each year the APEC calendar typically includes a number of ministerial and officials' meetings that usually begin in February or March and conclude in the Week of the Leaders' Meeting.

In 2005 the First Senior Officials' and Related Meetings begin in February with the APEC Korea calendar concluding with the Leaders' Meeting in Busan in November.

With the massive logistical planning required to Host an APEC year, each host economy is selected several years in advance.