KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has won the hosting honors for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in 2020, officials said on Monday morning. The summit is to be a key meeting for Malaysia, which hopes to move into developed-nation status by 2020. Malaysia was last hosts of the APEC summit in 1998, amidst the widespread Asian financial crisis and hopes the 2020 summit will be held on a positive note. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said “it was high time for the country to play host to the world's most successful and strong regional trade and economic grouping.” APEC consists of 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and had been meeting in Eastern Russia until the summit ended on Sunday. Speaking at the end of the summit, Razak said the focus of this year's meeting was food security issues. Leaders noted the looming threat posed by the possibility of “widespread food shortages amid a global population that was expected to reach nine billion by 2050.” The PM said Apec leaders “had expressed the need for countries with expertise in food production to assist others.” He also said Apec economies “should look at increasing public-private sector partnerships in food production and distribution.”
