Brunei prepares for APEC meeting

JAKARTA (JP): Brunei, gearing up to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November, is training 2,000 job-seekers to help cater to the needs of the region's political and business elite, an official of APEC secretariat in Bandar Seri Begawan has said.

Brunei's leaders also hope to turn that training and experience into long term employment opportunities as the country opens up to both foreign business investment and tourism, the official said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the current chairman of 21-member APEC forum that was founded in 1989, said recently that he expected some 6,000 delegates and 2,000 journalists would attend the summit.

Committted to achieving tangible results in the area of economic cooperation, notably education and training for small- and medium-sized businesses, the sultan encouraged his people to continue to move forward to face the challenges of global competition, the statement said. (kod)