H.E. Mr Lee Hae-chan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, visits the APEC Secretariat

H.E. Mr. Lee Hae-chan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea,
Distinguished delegation and guests,
Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the staff of the APEC Secretariat, I would first like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Prime Minister Lee to devote valuable time from his busy schedule to visit the APEC Secretariat.

The APEC Secretariat was established in 1993 under the auspices of the Singapore Government. Before moving to this new building in 2003, it operated from rented premises, financed by the Singapore government. The Secretariat is always grateful for the generous offer made by the Singapore Government. The APEC Secretariat is staffed by a total 50 personnel. We currently have 20 program directors seconded from APEC member economies. The APEC Secretariat is, thus, an organization of multi-national staff with apparent cultural diversity. This environment has provided the staff with the unique opportunity for enhancing mutual understanding and cooperation.

Since its inception in 1989, APEC has advocated a "small and efficient Secretariat", in other words, "lean and mean organization", with a view to avoid an enlarged bureaucratic structure and strengthen the cooperative mechanism by member economies. Accordingly, we are working with the basic motto of "servants of civil servants"

The Secretariat, even small in size, has been successfully operating as the core support body for the wide spectrum of APEC activities; assisting around 180 APEC meetings every year, coordinating the management of around 230 projects, and strengthening communications and public outreach activities.

APEC is now exploring ways to reinvigorate future APEC activities based on the experiences and trials and errors of the past sixteen years. New agenda items, such as Anti-corruption, Counter-terrorism, health issues and Secure Trade issues, are being discussed at the APEC forum, thereby addressing much broader scope of issues than the traditional subjects of trade and investment liberalization, economic and technical cooperation, etc.

Faced with the various challenges rising from the changing international political and economic environment and particularly the progress of WTO/DDA negotiations and rapidly evolving sub-regionalism, APEC is trying to seriously identify new ways to transform itself into a relevant regional cooperative organization with the continuous expansion of liberalization. The APEC Secretariat has also announced several broad internal reform measures early this year to live up to the demands brought about by fresh challenges, and will continue to faithfully carry them out.

I am confident that APEC 2005 would not only enhance the current stance of Korea as host, but also contribute to realizing tangible results out of the 2005 APEC process. There is no doubt that the Prime Minister, as "Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for APEC 2005", will lead us to the successful preparation of APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM) in Busan and other related meetings.

Before concluding, I would like to once again extend our sincere appreciation to the Prime Minister for visiting and encouraging us, and reaffirm that the staff of the APEC Secretariat would do their best to achieve a successful APEC 2005. Thank you.