Singapore will host its first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meeting as Chair of APEC 2009 from July 21-22.
The second Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and sixth Senior Finance Officials Meeting (SFOM) will precede the meeting of the Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) which will be attended by officials from 21 APEC economies.
The MRT meeting, to be chaired by Singapore 's Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, will discuss a range of economic issues including APEC policy responses to the economic crisis as well as preparing for the recovery period in the longer-term.
Another issue to dominate the working agenda will be how APEC economies could make growth more inclusive to spread benefits more broadly across society.
The theme of Singapore 's chairmanship of APEC 2009 is “Sustaining Growth, Connecting the Region”.
The four broad priorities for the year are addressing the economic crisis and preparing for recovery, supporting the multilateral trade system, accelerating regional economic integration and strengthening APEC/.