APEC meeting in Tokyo

APEC meeting in Tokyo

TOKYO (AFP): The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will hold a two-day vice-ministerial conference on small- and medium-sized businesses in Tokyo starting yesterday.

Trade Ministry officials said that vice ministers from the 17 APEC member nations and regions are attending the meeting to prepare for a ministerial meeting scheduled for late October in Osaka, western Japan.

Sozaburo Okamatsu, vice minister for international affairs at Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) chair this week's meeting, they said.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.