APEC set to expand secretariat<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
\nforum is set to revamp its secretariat in Singapore to support
\nits expanding activities.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's Wisber Loeis, the chairman of the Senior Officials
\nMeeting (SOM), told journalists here yesterday that a task force
\nin charge of studying how best to expand the secretariat would be
\nset up soon.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been appointed to head the task force. The
\nperson who will chair it will be decided after the APEC ministers
\nmeet here on Friday and Saturday to approve the plan proposed by
\nJapan.<\/p>\n
The three-day SOM, which began on Tuesday at the Jakarta
\nConvention Center, is attended by 200 delegates from the APEC
\nmember economies.<\/p>\n
APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong,
\nIndonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
\nPapua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand
\nand the United States. Chile will become a member shortly.<\/p>\n
\"The task force will come up with recommendations on how to
\nmake the new secretariat more effective and efficient,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Official sources said the task force is expected to submit its
\nrecommendations to an APEC senior officials meeting in the middle
\nof next year.<\/p>\n
APEC established its secretariat in Singapore in February
\n1993. It is headed by an executive director who serves for one
\nyear. The deputy executive director is appointed to assume the
\nchair the following year.<\/p>\n
The first executive director of the secretariat was ambassador
\nWilliam Bodde from the United States. He was succeeded by Rusli
\nNoor from Indonesia this year. Next year, the top spot goes to
\nShojiro Imanishi from Japan.<\/p>\n
Singapore has been funding the secretariat from its inception
\nand will continue to do so until the end of next year. After
\nthat, the APEC economies will have to decide who will finance it.<\/p>\n
The secretariat's staff includes professionals from APEC's
\nmember economies and a number of local support staff.<\/p>\n
Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and the
\nPhilippines have no professional staff in the secretariat.<\/p>\n
The acknowledgement by senior officials of the need to
\nstrengthen the secretariat is a far cry from the early days of
\nthe forum, when many countries frowned on the prospect of the
\ninstitutionalization of the forum.<\/p>\n
Many delegates now argue that the enlargement of the
\nsecretariat is a necessity, but feel that does not mean the
\ninstitutionalization of the forum.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, they acknowledge that as the forum matures, some
\nform of institutionalization will be unavoidable.<\/p>\n
\"We are beginning to grapple with the question of how to
\nsupport APEC,\" said Tony Miller, head of the Hong Kong delegation
\nto the SOM.<\/p>\n
He added that APEC's profile and activities are expanding
\ncontinuously and thus the secretariat \"has been under increasing
\nstrain simply because of the larger range of issues we are now
\ndealing with.\"<\/p>\n
Saodah Syahruddin, Indonesia's director for economic
\nrelations among developing countries at the foreign ministry,
\nsaid the SOM has recommended that each member economy have a
\nrepresentative at the secretariat.<\/p>\n
\"Each member country will be required to contribute to the
\nfunding of the secretariat,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Enterprises<\/p>\n
Yesterday's SOM also endorsed the ad hoc policy-level group on
\nsmall and medium enterprises which was recommended at last
\nmonth's APEC ministerial meeting in Osaka, Japan.<\/p>\n
The group will serve as a forum for member economies to
\nstrengthen policy dialog, assist in enhancing the development of
\nsmall and medium-scale enterprises and ensure that their
\ndevelopment is properly addressed within the APEC process.<\/p>\n
Its activities will include providing members with
\nopportunities to exchange information, views, experiences and
\nanalysis.<\/p>\n
The SOM also prepared a joint ministerial statement, the
\nagenda of the ministerial meeting and a report to the ministers.<\/p>\n
Wisber, who is the director general for foreign economic
\nrelations of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said
\nthat senior officials would continue their meeting into the night
\n\"to put the loose ends together\". (team)<\/p>\n
ASEAN -- Page 4<\/p>\n
City -- Page 12<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/apec-set-to-expand-secretariat-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }