APEC trade ministers to counter SARS impact

APEC trade ministers to counter SARS impact

Associated Press, Bangkok

Trade ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific countries and territories will meet in Thailand next month to devise strategies to counter the impact of SARS on the region's economy, officials said over the weekend.

The ministers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will meet in the northeastern Thai town of Khon Kaen, an APEC statement said. It did not give the meetings' dates.

"In the space of two months this unknown virus has caused disruption to both people's lives and economies of the region," the statement quoted the APEC secretariat chief, Piamsak Milintachinda, as saying.

The meeting will aim "to rebuild business confidence" in the region and "to help counter the ongoing economic impact of SARS on APEC economies," the statement said.

With a combined population of more than 2.5 billion, the 21- member APEC group generates a gross domestic product of US$19 trillion -- 47 percent of international commerce.

More than 410 people have died worldwide of severe acute respiratory syndrome, with most of the casualties in China and Hong Kong. It has sickened nearly 6,000 people all over the world.

The ministers' meeting will follow the emergency summit over SARS that the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations held on March 29 in Bangkok, along with the Chinese premier and the political leader of Hong Kong.

The leaders pledged to take several steps to control SARS, including stringent medical checks at airports, setting up a center to train medical personnel to deal with SARS and creating a multinational fund to conduct research on the disease.

APEC, set up in 1989 to promote international trade, consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.