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DGT to attend Awashima Trade Forum
The Director-General of Trade, Mr Tony Miller, will depart for Japan tomorrow (Wednesday) to attend the Third Conference on Asia Pacific Cooperation in the Global Economy organised by the Japan Institute of International Affairs on Awashima Island between March 15 and 17.
Organised with the full support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Japanese Government, the conference, also known as the Awashima Forum, will discuss multilateral trade and co-operation, development strategy and future expansion in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr Miller has been invited to chair the Forum's first session on "Asia Pacific Co-operation and the Multilateral Trading System" on the opening day to examine the initiatives that can be taken by the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and explore how APEC can contribute towards strengthening and developing the multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) framework.
It will also discuss the new challenges for the multilateral trading system, including the possible agenda for the coming WTO Ministerial Meeting in Singapore in December, and APEC's possible contributions in the area of trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation in tackling such challenges.
There will be two other sessions to examine the actions needed to realise the sustainable economic prosperity in the Asia Pacific region and the evolution of the development strategy in Asia for the development of other developing economies in the region.
The three-day Forum will be attended by senior officials, academics and businessmen from the Asia Pacific region including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan and Hong Kong.
During his stay in Japan, Mr Miller will meet senior officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to exchange views with them on trade issues of mutual interest.
He will also address a luncheon meeting of the Japan Hong Kong Society.
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