APEC Senior Officials to Begin Australia 2007 Meetings in Canberra from Monday

APEC Senior Officials will begin their first meetings for the 2007 APEC year hosted by Australia next week on January 15.

The series of meetings that will continue until January 26 will cover a range of issues that are important for the ongoing economic heath and development of the Asia-Pacific.

The Senior Officials Meeting will address many of the issues raised by APEC Leaders in Ha Noi last year including dealing with behind-the-border barriers to trade, energy security and the prospect of developing a Free Trade Agreement of the Asia-Pacific in the years ahead.

Areas that will be discussed at other supporting meetings include counter terrorism, intellectual property rights, agricultural biotechnology, and health and preparations to deal with a potential Avian Influenza pandemic.

The Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, Ambassador Colin Heseltine, highlighted the importance of a successful APEC process to economic growth and prosperity in the region.

"We face quite different challenges now compared with 1989 as the impact of globalization, greater economic integration and freer movement of goods, people and capital brings enormous benefits to the region but also makes doing business much more complex," Ambassador Heseltine said from Singapore.

"APEC must ensure that its agenda is able to meet these challenges in a highly focused and coherent way."

The Senior Officials Meeting in Canberra will return APEC to the same venue where its first meeting was held in 1989.

The meeting will be the first of a number of events that will draw delegates from each of APEC's 21 Member Economies and culminate with the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Sydney on September 8-9.

Senior representatives from APEC will be available for interview in the lead-up to and during the meetings.