No change on APEC plan

No change on APEC plan

TOKYO (Reuter): The huge earthquake which hit central Japan on Tuesday is unlikely to prompt any change in plans for the next meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Osaka in November, foreign ministry officials said yesterday.

"At this point there is no impact (on the plans) and there are anyway still 10 months to go before the APEC meeting," one official said.

Japan will host the APEC ministerial meetings, set for Nov. 17-18 and the APEC meeting of heads of state on Nov. 19.

The quake, the worst to hit Japan in a half century, has left at least 2,500 dead, 900 missing and 14,500 injured, but most of these were in the port city of Kobe.

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