SINGAPORE : The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings will kick off in Singapore this weekend and culminate in the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

Singapore assumes chairmanship of APEC this year, which means it will set the agenda for the annual meeting.

An inter-agency committee has been set up to prepare for the event, which will see over 100 meetings during the course of the year.

The organising committee comprises representatives from the Singapore Tourism Board, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the Land Transport Authority, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, Infocomm Development Authority, Singapore Police Force and the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Health and Information, Communications and the Arts.

The committee said it will minimise any inconveniences to stakeholders and the public around the meeting venues.

Different places such as the Istana, the Grand Corpthorne Waterfront along the Singapore River and Shangri-La Hotel near the city centre have been selected to profile Singapore's multi-faceted city landscape.

Some 1,000 senior officials and delegates are expected this weekend in the first series of meetings, while the leaders' summit is expected to draw some 7,000 delegates.

Singapore takes over the APEC helm at a time when the financial crisis is expected to top the agenda, as the 21-member economies discuss ways to enhance trade and investment.

APEC's 21 member economies are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

Together, the grouping accounts for about half of the world's GDP and trade.