Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa on Friday departed for China to attend a meeting of finance chiefs from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, scheduled to be held in Suzhou this weekend, ministry officials said.
Their talks precede a joint APEC foreign and trade ministers' meeting Oct. 17 and 18 and a summit of the Asia-Pacific region Oct. 20 and 21, both in Shanghai.
APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S. and Vietnam.