BUSAN, South Korea, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Trade leaders of 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum adopted a joint statement on Wednesday here, vowing to accelerate APEC's ongoing work on infectious disease threats such as avian influenza.

    The statement issued at the end of two-day APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) held in Busan, South Korean second largest city.

    Ministers from the APEC member economies expressed the concern the threat that the highly pathogenic avian influenza posed to the Asia-Pacific region as well as to the world, said the statement.

    "They agreed it was critical to ensure that APEC was prepared for and had the capacity to effectively respond to infectious diseases at the individual, regional and international levels," said the statement.

    The ministers also called on cooperating with specialized international organizations, such as the World Health Organization(WHO), the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health, to prevent spread of the bird flu.

    Moreover, ministers called for support to strengthen their regional and international surveillance and responses systems, according to the statement.

    "Ministers endorsed the initiative on Preparing for and Mitigating and Influenza Pandemic, with the aim of strengthened collective action and individual commitment on a multi-sectoral basis to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic," the statement said.

    They also agreed on the recommendations of the cross-sectoral APEC Symposium on Response to Outbreak of Avian Influenza and Preparedness for a Human Health Emergency held in San Francisco inthis July, which sought to minimize the threats to animal and human health, including the threat of transmission from animal to human, as well as the economic consequences of avian and other pandemic influenza.

    The ministers also instructed all APEC fora to continue to work cooperatively with APEC's Health Task Force and Task force on Emergency Preparedness to achieve this goal.

    They also stressed the importance of timely and accurate reporting and capacity building efforts to enable adequate, systematic and well-coordinated prevention.

    The ministers, at last, delivered their hope that the APEC Symposium on Emerging Infectious Diseases to be held in China in April 2006 will bear fruits.

    The two-day AMM is a preparation of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held on Nov. 18-19.

    APEC member economies are including: Australia, Brunei, Canada,Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. Enditem