Leaders stay clear of the curious

By Andrew Stone

If the public want a taste of Apec they had better hurry.

The only Apec-related event that actually welcomes ordinary people closes today.

The Apec Trade Fair and Conference, with the grand theme of a "global vision for the new millennium," opened on Sunday to an underwhelming response.

By yesterday, organiser Tracey Evington was on the phone to Auckland University promising students they would not have to pay the $10 admission fee.

She was disappointed that more businesses, investors and the curious had not made the trip to the Ellerslie Convention Centre, where a high-powered list of trade delegates and private-sector figures were sharing secrets of doing business in their economies.

But she conceded that the fair had left its run rather late, and came on the heels of other trade fairs in the region.

The public invitation was deliberate, said Tracey Evington.

"We adopted a very open policy. We have a neutral political line on Apec, though our focus is on business and small and medium-sized enterprises.

"But if lobbyists from groups opposed to Apec want to come then we'd welcome open discussion because we feel that only through debate can we advance the idea of how the community benefits from trade."

For the rest of the summit, which gets down to business today with an informal meeting of senior officials at the Auckland Town Hall, events are off-limits to the public, despite the Government's stated goal of promoting "the Apec process to the wider community."

For an anti-Apec view of the forum, interested people can attend a three-day conference, Reclaiming Apec, which starts today at the university.

Otherwise they are limited to a roadside end-of-week vigil for a glimpse of a high-speed motorcade, or television for coverage of leaders disembarking on to red carpet at the airport.

Organisers say the programme reflects the reality of a forum where the security of international leaders is paramount.

They also note that Apec's working sessions occur behind closed doors, and say the media, which have a huge presence at the summit, are effectively the public's representatives.

The leave-nothing-to-chance approach means the famous walkabout that Nelson Mandela took from the Aotea Centre during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in 1995 is unlikely to be repeated by any of the Apec leaders.

To the horror of his minders, the South African leader left the conference to greet admirers pressed against a security fence.

The tight Auckland programme has little room for spontaneous departures from the script, although each delegation is expected to have private functions. Taiwan plans nine banquets for its 80 officials and intends inviting local Taiwanese.

In many respects our Apec planning resembles the approach at Vancouver, which hosted Apec in 1997. Several Auckland organisers attended the Canadian summit, where the City of Sails was confirmed as this year's host.

A security blanket was thrown over downtown Vancouver, streets were made off-limits and protesters were kept away from leaders. The one time US President Bill Clinton met Canadians was on a late-night stroll into Gastown, a historic touristy part of Vancouver, where he made a restaurant briefly famous by eating out.

This suggests the Auckland waterfront may offer a bit of Apec-spotting. Otherwise it may be a long wait beside the airport motorway on Saturday morning.