| | Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)Secretary Rice and President Bush were in Sydney, Australia to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting, September 4-7, 2007.
Secretary Rice led the U.S. delegation for the Ministerial Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) in Hanoi (November 15-16, 2006) and accompanied President Bush on his bilateral visits to Vietnam and Indonesia.
Patricia M. Haslach, a Career Minister of the Senior Foreign Service, who began her diplomatic career in 1986, was appointed U.S. Senior Official for APEC, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in June 2007
President Bush Attends APEC Business Summit
President Bush (Sept. 7): "APEC nations are supporting the advance of freedom in this region. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore helped lead the effort to include democratic and human rights principles in the ASEAN Charter. Japan has incorporated democracy and governance programs into its official development assistance. South Korea hosted an historic gathering of the world's free nations, the Community of Democracies summit. These are important steps -- and now we must build on them by forging new regional institutions to encourage the continued expansion of freedom in this vital part of the world. And so this week, the United States is proposing the creation of a new Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership. Through this partnership, free nations will work together to support democratic values, strengthen democratic institutions, and assist those who are working to build and sustain free societies across the Asia Pacific region." | |