| From 2nd till 9th of September 2007 Sydney has hosted 21 leaders of the Asia Pacific region at the APEC summit. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was first established in 1989 as an Australian initiative, and over the last 18 years it has grown into a significant inter-governmental, political and economic forum.
Please view photos from APEC rally, City, Saturday, 7th September 2007.
APEC agenda includes the issues of regional and global security, facilitation of trade agreements and technological advancement within the Asia Pacific region, and this year, it has raised a debate over the climate change.
It is the first time that Sydney has been hosting such a significant summit with some of the most influential world leaders including: the President of the USA, George Bush, the President of China, Hu Jintao, the President of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, and the host, John Howard, among others.
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2007 APEC’s political and economic agenda, as well as the logistics of such a prominent gathering have raised a lot of controversy and gained extensive media coverage.
One of the most commented trade agreements is the deal for Australia to sell uranium to Russia, signed by Prime Minister John Howard and President Vladimir Putin. Even though Russia is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is one of the five nuclear powers recognised by that agreement, there is a lot of concern that there are no safeguards to prevent Russia from using uranium for military purpose or selling it to rouge states, like Iran.
The second most controversial issue seems to be the climate change, where APEC has failed to arrive with a more specific agreement over the targets for the green house emissions. The 21 leaders agreed on long-term "aspirational" goals in the fight against global warming, but no firm commitments were made.
On the local political scene, the APEC summit will be associated with stirring pre-election speculations over the leadership handover in the Liberal Party. In even more local context, Sydney residents would remember APEC mainly due to the disruptions in the local public transport and overzealous safeguards.
The federal police have been accused of the security overshot, especially during the anti APEC and anti Bush protest on Saturday, 7th September. The rally has attracted about 5000 demonstrators and lead from the Town Hall to Hyde Park. It is reported that nine protesters were detained and two police officers injured, but the demonstration was largely peaceful and the police presence was excessive.
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