Chinese Vice-Premier and Health Minister Wu Yi arrived here Friday afternoon to attend the APEC Health Ministers' meeting to be held here on June 28.
SARS epidemic will be high on the agenda of the first gatheringof APEC health ministers as the region has suffered much from the disease, which has caused 8,459 reported infections and 805 deathsglobally since the first case was found last November.
According to a survey of WHO, the epidemic will reduce the economic growth rate of the APEC members by 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent.
The officials from APEC's 21 economies are expected to work outmeasures to rebuild travelers' confidence and find ways to overcome future disease threats.
Wu Yi will deliver an important speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting.
"It will be interesting to hear Madam Wu Yi's views of the SARSepidemic particularly with Beijing having just been removed from the WHO travel warning list and SRAS-risk list," APEC Secretariat Executive Director Piamsak Milintachinda said in a press briefing before the meeting.
Moreover, Wu Yi will have official talks with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on bilateral economic cooperation.
(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2003)
