"Hawaii is a Great Venue for International Meetings": APEC Executive Director

The Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, Ambassador Piamsak Milintachinda, will arrive in Honolulu this morning to attend the OECD-APEC Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy.

Ambassador Piamsak has praised Hawaii's convenient geographic location and world-class facilities for hosting regional meetings.

"Hawaii is convenient for officials from the United States as it can be reached on a domestic flight," Ambassador Piamsak said.

"For our Asian, Latin American and South Pacific economies, Hawaii can be reached either by direct flights or usually with only one change of aircraft.

"For most APEC economies Hawaii is an easily accessible location with a broad range of facilities for our delegates to meet and focus on the issues at hand."

Ambassador Piamsak said while not all people in Hawaii would be aware of the work carried out by the OECD and APEC, he hoped the forum would raise some local awareness of both organizations and their activities which impact on the lives of people in Hawaii.

"Speaking on behalf of APEC, we are a regional forum of 21 Asia-pacific economies that was created with the goal of reducing barriers to trade and investment and strengthening regional cohesion.

"A great deal of our work at APEC involves seeking ways to reduce red-tape and the layers of bureaucracy that prevent people and businesses from selling their skills internationally.

"One of the benefits of this work is that international trade becomes more accessible for small and medium sized business, including those in Hawaii, to sell their goods and services internationally. This creates jobs and income for people in Hawaii and people around the region.

"Regional meetings and forums such as the OECD-APEC Global Forum on the Digital Economy have a direct impact on the lives of the people in the region.

"At this meeting we are identifying ways to extend access to the digital economy and the Internet for all people in APEC and the OECD.

"This includes economically disadvantaged people in the smallest countries and economies to the largest such as the United States and Japan.

"At these meetings officials from government, the private sector and community organizations map out reforms and plans to build our region, to create jobs and raise living standards.

"APEC related meetings take place in all of our 21 economies throughout the year. "One of the goals of these meetings is to draw international attention to the local area in which the meeting is being held.

"I hope this meeting will draw further attention to Hawaii as a venue for conferences and meetings.

"Hawaii is very well equipped to host these meetings. I look forward to meeting with representatives of the Hawaii government, business and local community."

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has 21 Members:

Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States of America, Viet Nam.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has 30 Members:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America.