HANOI, Vietnam -- Pacific Rim leaders will endorse a plan to fight bird
flu and cooperate in improving regional pandemic preparedness, according to a
draft statement to be released this weekend.
Leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, gathering
in Hanoi for their annual summit, will support a plan calling for enhanced
surveillance, improved infrastructure and expanded technical collaboration in
the region.
The plan follows a meeting in May at which health and
agriculture ministers from the region agreed on ways to head off a potential
pandemic, including calling for the restructuring of some backyard farming
practices into larger, more controlled operations.
In the draft statement,
the APEC leaders urge a "deepened engagement of the private sector to help
ensure continuity of business, trade and essential services in the event of a
pandemic outbreak."
The virulent H5N1 bird flu virus has killed at least
153 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.
Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among
humans, potentially sparking a pandemic.
So far, most human cases have
been linked to contact with infected birds.
The APEC leaders also will
call for better cooperation on AIDS, including pushing for rights for those
living with the AIDS virus and universal access to prevention, care and
treatment by 2010, the draft statement says.