/ 16 November 2006

Apec leaders find fun with fashion and food

Presidents and prime ministers, kings, communists and one or two former generals — Apec brings together one of the world’s most diverse groups of leaders, who show unity with one of the world’s most unique fashion shows.

After Sunday’s summit, the 21 Apec leaders will don Vietnam’s ao dai silk tunic for the closing ceremony. The leaders customarily make an appearance in local attire at the annual meeting. Last year, they wore the silky wide-sleeved ”dumagi” jacket in South Korea’s port city of Pusan.

At previous summits they have worn short-sleeved Thai silk shirts, Chinese ”Sun Yat Sen” silk jackets and Indonesian silk batik. At Apec’s first meeting in 1993, hosted by former United States president Bill Clinton in Seattle, the summiteers sported bombardier jackets. Since then, they have slipped into Philippine barong shirts, kiwi sailing suits and Mexican ponchos.

Out of luck, no unborn duck

Apec leaders will be invited to sample dozens of Vietnamese dishes, state-run Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper said.

The proposed menu includes chicken and beef noodle broth from the north, spicy beef noodle soup from the central region, prawns and herbs wrapped in rice rolls, deep-fried spring rolls, rice dumplings with shrimp, grilled beef stuffed in bamboo stalks from the south and fermented fish marinated in saffron and herbs.

The report did not say whether the leaders would also be offered durian, a spiky-skinned fruit whose pungent odour can equally be described as fragrant or foetid, ”nuoc mam”, a sauce made from anchovies that forms an integral part of national cuisine or unborn, fully-formed ducks served in their shells — all of which are delicacies enjoyed by many Vietnamese.

By Ho Tay (West Lake) in central Hanoi, a favourite haunt of canoodling couples, views about the summit’s impact on ordinary Vietnamese swung between optimism and indifference.

”It marks a new era, especially with Vietnam joining the WTO at almost the same time. Apec will also help with Vietnam’s branding internationally,” said business student Hoang Quoc Anh (22) in a lakeside boat cafe popular with wealthy young Hanoians.

One motorbike taxi driver saw scant importance in the summit, which has prompted traffic police to cordon off roads, crack down on illegal parking and fine cafe owners setting up their tables on the pavement. ”Apec or not — life just goes on the same for poor people like us. We don’t see any change,” he said, before fleeing police officers slowly circling the streets. – Reuters