Surabaya to host Asia Pacific economic conference

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | World | Mon, April 01 2013, 9:34 PM

Surabaya in East Java is set to host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, which is slated to take place on April 6-21.  

The Surabaya administration’s head of cooperation, Ifron Hady, said on Monday that in order to make the event a success, the administration was carrying out some major preparation work.

“We’ve started to repaint road markings on several streets and organize street vendors,” Ifron said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said the administration was also ready, at the behest of the Foreign Ministry, to take action against pirated products that were widely marketed in the city.

Ifron said copyright infringement was a sensitive issue that could affect economic relations between Indonesia and other APEC member states, particularly those with strong commitments to intellectual property rights.

The APEC conference will be divided into two events: the second Senior Officers Meeting (SOM) on April 7-19, and the Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) meeting on April 19-21.

“It is estimated that a total 2,000 representatives from 21 member states and three observer states will attend the conference,” said Ifron.

He said that at least 38 meetings would be held during the conference, including the 29^th Counterterrorism Task Force Meeting, the Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF), and Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) meetings.

It is not the first time that Surabaya will have hosted an international event; in 2011, the city was the site ofr the ASEAN Mayor Forum and Citynet, a meeting of mayors from around the world. (asw/ebf)