Japan will host next year's summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Yokohama, Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters Wednesday.
Four other Japanese cities — Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara and Sapporo — had been bidding to host the annual leaders meeting of the 21 Pacific Rim economies in 2010, which is the target year for the developed members of the region to achieve the so-called Bogor Goals of free trade and investment.
The government has picked Yokohama as the venue because the port city can accommodate the large number of attendees and it would be easy to provide security for Asia-Pacific leaders, according to government officials. It will be the second time Japan hosts the APEC summit, after Osaka did so in 1995.