The National Organizing Committee for APEC PNG 2018 (NOC-2018) which was established by Cabinet in 2013 has some committees.
Prime among them is the Committee on APEC Policy Issues (CAPI), the committee responsible for drafting PNG's policy deliverables for 2018.
Director-General of the APEC Secretariat Mr Lahui Ako told PNG Loop exclusively in Rabaul yesterday that the CAPI has been meeting regularly since its establishment in October 2013 and is chaired by Mr Ivan Pomaleu, a PNG APEC senior official and facilitated by the PNG APEC Secretariat.
The CAPI, through the PNG APEC Secretariat is now carrying out this policy outreach activity under the 2018 Working theme of "Sustainable growth, Connectivity for all", Ako said.
"Besides the policy deliverables for 2018, the University of Natural Resources and Environment (UNRE) and Kokopo will host the 2nd Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting (MRT) in May, 2018 when APEC comes to this part of the country.
“The NOC-2018 committees are expected to meet in Kokopo before the end of this year to commence the consultation and liaison process with their Provincial counterparts", Ako outlined.
According to the Director -General, the APEC year will start in December, 2017 with the Informal Senior Officials Meeting (ISOM) at the UOG in Goroka. This will be followed by SOM1 in Port Moresby in Feb, 2018; SOM2/MRT at the UNRE/Kokopo in May 2018; SOM3 in Madang in August 2018; to be topped off by the Leaders Week which consists of the Closing SOM, APEC Ministers Meeting (AMM) and APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM) in Port Moresby in November, 2018.
Apart from ISOM (2 days) and Leaders Week (6-8 days); the APEC SOM process goes for 15-18 days, with an average of 5 meetings per day, and a total delegation turnover of 1,500 - 2,000.
"Besides this mandatory cluster of APEC SOM meetings; PNG will also host a number of APEC Ministerial meetings on Agriculture, SMEs, Women, Energy, Tourism, HRD, and Finance. These ministerial meetings will be hosted throughout the country with venues to be confirmed in due course,’’ Mr. Ako told PNG Loop