RI hosts people smuggling meeting

JAKARTA: The preparatory meeting for the second Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Human Trafficking and Related Transnational Crimes is slated to open here on Thursday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that the one-day meeting would set the agenda for the upcoming ministerial talks to be held in Bali on April 28.

The first conference, cohosted by Indonesia and Australia, was also held in Bali last year, during which time participants reached a common understanding that people smuggling was a regional problem and should be addressed through multilateral cooperation.

Delegations from 39 countries, 18 observers and 16 international organizations are expected to attend the conference. --JP