Honolulu will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation annual meeting of regional international leaders in 2011, according to an announcement tonight by President Barack Obama.

Hawaii has been vying for months to host the gathering of 21 heads of governments from the Asia-Pacific region who discuss the economy, trade and investments.
The 2011 event will be held from Nov. 12 to 20.
The president announced that the meeting will be in his hometown while he was attending this year’s meeting in Singapore. The organization is scheduled to meet next year in Japan.
Obama said: “And when America hosts APEC in a few years, I look forward to seeing you all decked out in flowered shirts and grass skirts, because today I’m announcing that we are bringing this forum to my home state of Hawaii in 2011.”
The meeting rotates among members and was last held in the United States near Seattle in 1993.