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The Secretary for Trade and Industry, Mr Chau Tak Hay, will depart for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, tomorrow (Thursday) to attend the Tenth Ministerial Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to be held on November 14 and 15.

Ministers attending the meeting will finalise the arrangements of the APEC Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalisation (EVSL) initiative, as instructed by APEC Economic Leaders in November last year.

A spokesman for the Trade and Industry Bureau today (Wednesday) said, "The objective of Hong Kong, China is to arrive at a substantive package of proposals in the nine fast-track sectors for presentation to Leaders, and to lay down clear direction for future work in respect of the EVSL initiative."

Other major issues to be discussed include APEC members' Individual Action Plans, economic and technical cooperation matters, and electronic commerce.

The meeting will also endorse the formal admission of Peru, Russia and Vietnam into APEC, bringing the total membership of APEC to 21.

In addition, the meeting will discuss ways whereby APEC can contribute to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the strengthening of the multilateral trading system.

"We believe that APEC should contribute actively to the process of setting the agenda for the Third WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in late 1999," the spokesman said.

In addition to the Secretary for Trade and Industry, the Hong Kong, China delegation to the APEC Ministerial Meeting comprises the Director-General of Trade, Mr Alan Lai, and officials from the Trade and Industry Bureau, the Financial Services Bureau, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Trade Department, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore, and the Information Services Department.

The Ministerial Meeting will be followed by the Sixth APEC Economic Leaders Meeting to be held on November 17 and 18. The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, will represent Hong Kong, China at this annual gathering of APEC Economic Leaders from the economies.

Existing member economies of APEC include: Australia; Brunei Darusaalam; Canada; Chile; the People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; the Republic of the Philippines; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; and the United States of America. Peru, Russia and Vietnam will be formally admitted to APEC at this meeting. During the year of 1998, they participate in APEC activities as members-designate.

End/Wednesday, November 11, 1998

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