At the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Bogor, Indonesia, in November 1994,
China proposed to host the 1st APEC Ministers' Conference on Regional Science and
Technology Cooperation in Beijing, and the offer was accepted by the leaders.
During the Beijing Ministers' Conference,the ministers welcomed the
efforts of
individual economies to put forward cooperative research project proposals
and
endorsed the Draft Action Program for Industrial Science and Technology,
which
paved the way for promoting S&T cooperation in the region.
In order to meet the various demands of member economies and to fully
implement
the outcome of the Beijing Ministers' Conference, further discussion on regional
science and technology cooperation is required. As such, a subsequent S
& T
Ministers' Conference could play a leading and promoting role.
Fully recognizing this, the Republic of Korea proposed to host the second
APEC
S&T Ministers' Conference in Seoul, and the ministers at the Beijing Conference
accepted
the offer, as mentioned in the Joint Statement of the APEC Ministerial Meeting in
Osaka in November 1995.
