Four days before the APEC leaders' meeting, Peru is ready to receive leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Coopeation (APEC) member economies.
The Peruvian government has made great efforts to present the city's best appearance, with newly revamped buildings, parks and a strong deployment of security personnel in the main streets of the capital city. Due to the importance of the event, Peru would beef up security measures to ensure the safety of the APEC leaders, Interior Minister Remigio Hernani said Tuesday.
Under the Plan of Operations APEC 2008, presented by Hernani Monday, Peruvian authorities have deployed some 99,000 security personnel so far to protect the leaders, ministers and business leaders attending the summit, local newspaper Peru.21 reported Tuesday.
As the possibility of an attack with nuclear or bacteriological agents is always taken into account in international meetings like the APEC summit, Peruvian police and firefighters have set up units equipped with special devices against nuclear, biological and chemical materials, said the report.
These groups will be responsible for detecting and identifying bacteria or virus, which could be used as a weapon of mass destruction during the summit, the report said.
A total of 19 leaders, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. Presiednt George W. Bush, are expected to attend the leaders' meeting, which is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
The vehicle of each APEC leader will be protected by a team of two police motorcycles, followed by a patrol sedan and two trucks carrying police officers. Police helicopters will guard the leaders' vehicle from the air to prevent any possible terrorist attacks.
During the summit, the leaders are expected to sign a series of agreements on access to markets, insurance, electronic commerce, customs procedures, climate change and transportation infrastructure.
They will discuss how to fight against corruption, promote education, stimulate the development of small and medium enterprises, and decrease the digital gap.
The current global financial crisis and the Doha Round trade talks is expected top the agenda of the meeting.
Established in 1989, APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, China's Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
On Sunday, the 21 member economies kicked off their annual forum, called the APEC Leaders' Week, with a two-day senior officials' meeting.
Source: Xinhua
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