Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Vice-admiral Luis Giampietri, Chairman of the APEC 2008 High-Level Commission in charge of organizing APEC Peru 2008 meetings, supervised the facilities of the Real Felipe Fortress Convention Center that has 7 thousand m2 and was furnished with an investment of more than 12 million dollars.  This center will receive 1000 small and mid sized business entrepreneurs that will meet on 17 November for the 2nd ABAC SME Summit, a meeting organized by the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), in the frame of the XVI Leaders Week.

“This meeting is very important because APEC SMEs represent a significant force when it comes to generating employment.  This convention center, which will have a large auditorium with capacity for 1,500 people, a press center, an accreditation room, an area for offices and a cafeteria, was remodeled without affecting the historic character of the fortress, obtaining by this the added-value of it remaining a historic building and a Peruvian national treasure,” said the High-Level Commission Chairman.

The other venues where the Leaders’ Week will take place appear ready to receive Leaders, Ministers and Senior Officials that will meet at the Ministry of Defense Convention Center (MoD) and at the National Museum, respectively.

The Operations Director of the APEC 2008 High-Level Commission, Gonzalo Ansola, informed that the greatest challenge while implementing the rooms was the modernization of the rooms’ logistics, which must comply with the APEC Protocol.

At the MoD Convention Center, four floors of the building have been fitted out for the Leaders’ Meetings, as well as APEC Business Leaders.  The greeting of the Leaders will take place on the first floor, while the fifth floor will have the waiting rooms where Senior Officials, security personnel, doctors and interpreters will accompany their representatives.

“Besides these waiting rooms and the prayer rooms for Leaders and Delegates, this floor has a health post implemented with a defibrillator, stretchers, doctors and nurses”, said the Operations Director.

The main part of the Summit will be conducted on the sixth floor, where the two Leaders Retreats will take place in the Bolognesi and Cáceres rooms, both of which are armored.  In the Bolognesi Room, sitting around a 12 meter diameter table donated by Australia, Leaders will meet on November 22nd to discuss subjects related to the World Financial Crisis, the increase of the prices of food and basic products, as well as the development of negotiations of the Doha Round.

On Sunday 23, the Leaders’ Retreat II will take place in the Caceres Room. This time, all 21 Leaders will meet in a room with a square layout and special lighting.  Finally, on the 7th floor, the Leaders Dialogue with ABAC Businessmen Leaders and ABAC representatives will meet in five circles.  There will also be a waiting room for Leaders, where they will wait for the arrival of all the dignitaries to begin their meetings; as well as special rooms for bilateral meetings between Leaders.

Two other meetings will take place at the National Museum during of Leaders’ Week:  the Conclusive Senior Officials’ Meeting and the 20th APEC Ministerial Meeting.  Both venues have a total of 58 rooms which are fully equipped to receive Leaders, Ministers and Senior Officials from APEC Member Economies during the so-called Leaders’ Week, a huge event with which APEC Peru 2008 will come to an end.

News source: APEC 2008.org