Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia :  The meeting of ministers responsible for trade (MRT) of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is to be held in Surabaya, East Java, on April 20-21, 2013, an Indonesian trade official said here Friday.

“The Indonesian delegation will be led by Minister of Trade Gita Wirjawan, who will also serve as chairman of the sssembly during the two-day meeting,” said Arlinda Imbang Jaya, head of Indonesian Trade Ministry’s public relations center.

Imbang Jaya added this MRT meeting was preceded by a series of meetings at the level of sub-fora and working groups since April 7, 2013, that subsequently summarized in the meetings of the Committee on Trade and Investment, Economic Committee and Sub-Committee.

Speaking in a media briefing, Arlinda Jaya said results of the preceeding meetings had been reported to the meetings of the senior official (SOM) that wrapped up on Friday, chaired by Yuri O. Thamrin, chairperson of Indonesian APEC SOM delegation.

Imbang Jaya noted that Iman Pambagyo, Indonesian Ministry of Trade’s Director General of International Trade Cooperation, led discussions regarding the more technical topics, including the issues of connectivity on trade and investment, infrastructure development and agriculture subsidies.

Delegates from 19 out of APEC’s 21 member economies already in Surabaya are Vietnam, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Chinese Taipei, China, Mexico, Malaysia, Canada, Russia, the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

“Representatives from four organizations namely ASEAN, WTO, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and the secretariat of APEC are also expected to attend the Surabaya meeting,” Imbang Jaya pointed out.

They include Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sang-jick Yoon and Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang.

Other ministers attending the meeting are Thailand’s Minister of Commerce Piramol Charoenpao, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimmitsu Motegi, Chile’s Vice Minister of Trade Alvaro Jana, China’s Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.

Also, Mexico’s Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal, Canada’s Minister of International Trade Edward Daniel Fast, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexey Likhachev, New Zealand’s Minister of Trade Tim Groser and Australia’s Minister for Trade and Competitiveness Craig Emerson.

APEC is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim economiesd seeking to promote free trade and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world.

The second APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) was held in Bogor, Indonesia, on November 15, 1994, when the leaders taking this opportunity to exchange views on where the economies of the region needed to go for the next 25 years, based on the Bogor Goals.

The ‘Bogor Goals’ of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies was envisaged by the leaders in their vision of the state of the economic and trade for the region by these time frames.