by Yuan Mengchen, Wang Hongyu, Levi J Parsons
PORT MORESBY, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Minister for Police Jelta Wong said there should be no concerns about safety for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in November, and participants will have the "best security" for the event.
The APEC economic leaders' meeting, to be held in the South Pacific nation's capital city Port Moresby, will gather leaders from the 21 member economies as well as thousands of media representatives, delegates and supporting staff.
With such a huge logistical undertaking, PNG police and its armed forces have spent over a year performing drills and training exercises to make sure everything is "perfect" when APEC participants arrive.
According to the minister, equipped with the latest security surveillance gear and communications technology from China, authorities now have the capability to detect incidents before they happen.
"PNG wants to see, touch and embrace the world leaders because this is the first time they've come to our country," he told Xinhua in an interview earlier this week.
Noting that terrorism poses a risk globally, the police minister said the danger remains extremely low in PNG, although authorities do take the threat very seriously.
He said the PNG police and military are working together with Indonesian and Australian counterparts to tighten security at border areas.
On the domestic crime front, the police minister believed crime rates will fall during the APEC summit. He said if there is any issues during the event, he will personally travel to the location and make sure it is fixed, 24 hours a day.
With a number of major events over the past few years, including the numerous preliminary APEC meetings, rugby league World Cup fixtures and FIFA World Cup qualifiers, PNG has proven it can run well organized international events on a large scale, Wong said.
But despite the success on previous occasions, Wong said there is no room for complacency.
"We can never ever be complacent," he said, adding that "it's going to be a huge event and we will make sure it's a success."
