S'pore sets aside nearly S$100m to host year-long APEC
meetings
SINGAPORE: The government has set aside S$100 million to
host the year-long series of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) meetings in Singapore.
The meetings will culminate with a summit on November 14
and 15, attended by leaders from the 21 APEC economies.
In 2006, the amount spent on hosting the eight-day IMF World Bank
meetings in Singapore was over S$100 million.
The APEC 2009 Organising Committee has to pay special attention to
details when planning for the mega event where some 10,000
delegates, officials and media personnel will be present.
These details include gifts for the delegates and tea break
menus.
Koh Lin-Net, chair of APEC 2009 Organising Committee, said: "We
have to manage the attractiveness of the tea break against the rest
of the meeting. Sometimes, you find that the teh tarik stall out in
the reception area is so attractive that they don't want to go back
to the meeting. We have to manage that."
There have been a series of rehearsals – sometimes into the wee
hours of the morning – to ensure clockwork precision.
"Two weeks ago, when we rehearsed the arrival of 21 convoys to the
Istana, we started on the basis of 90-second intervals in between
convoys. Then we go down to discussing that 90 seconds is too much,
maybe we need to go to 60 seconds. Then we feel 60 seconds is too
much, we go down to 30 seconds – that's the level of details," said
Ms Koh.
The key meeting of the 21 APEC leaders will be held at the Istana,
while the ministerial meetings and the APEC CEO Summit will be held
at the Suntec Convention Centre.
The organising committee said this arrangement would help to
minimise inconveniences to the public and ensure the highest level
of security for the visiting delegations and leaders.
To manage any demonstrations by civic groups, Ms Koh said the
recently enacted Public Order Act will be enforced. However, she
added: "We do not expect civic demonstrations that we see in other
meetings simply because APEC meetings are less prone to such civil
public demonstrations."
Singapore organisers have arranged an advance visit for the APEC
economies next week to explain arrangements made for the APEC
leaders' meeting. The trip includes visits to various meeting
venues and a briefing on the details of the traffic
arrangements.
The organising committee added that there would not be prolonged
road closures and where possible, lane closures would be
implemented instead. There will be a dedicated APEC lane which will
be closed to the public prior to and during the motorcade movement
to ensure minimal disruptions to normal traffic flow.
Nonetheless, motorists can expect some changes to the daily
operations in the Suntec/Marina Bay area, such as route diversions
for buses and pedestrians, relocation of taxi stands, as well as
changes to parking facilities.
All traffic announcements will be made early to enable motorists to
plan alternative routes in advance.
Meanwhile, some 700 officers from 40 government agencies will be
involved in the organisation of APEC 2009. Among the areas they are
looking into include security, hospitality, medical and media
coverage arrangements.
Some 17,400 personnel from Singapore and Singapore-based companies
are involved in the physical set up of the various meeting venues,
providing various services for the meetings and designing attire
for staff.
Moreover, 1,800 volunteer ambassadors will be recruited to play
host to the international delegates and 120 hours of rehearsals
have been planned.
- CNA/yb/so