Australia will host a regional summit on bird flu later this month to examine whether Asia-Pacific nations can cope with an outbreak of the deadly virus.
Disaster management co-ordinators from 21 countries will meet in Brisbane on October 31 and November 1 to discuss preparations for a potential avian influenza pandemic in the region.
It will be the first time the experts, from every Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economy, have been brought together.
Observers from the Pacific Island Forum, Burma, Cambodia and Laos also have been invited to attend.
News of the summit comes just a day after Australia sent a team of advisers to Jakarta to provide assistance in dealing with an outbreak of bird flu, which has so far claimed seven lives in Indonesia.
The expert advice comes on top of funding by Australia for 50,000 doses of the anti-viral medication Tamiflu for Indonesia, which is due to arrive in Jakarta this week.
Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in four Asian nations since late 2003 and has been found in birds as far away as Russia and Europe.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer denied Australia's recent response was due to panic.
"This is something we've been working on for quite some time and it's just a coincidence we've had a series of announcements in the last few days," he said.
Australia wants the summit to develop a coordination strategy among APEC nations, which will provide a blueprint for a regional response to the threat.
"This (Brisbane) meeting will look at both the levels of preparedness and what more needs to be done to improve preparation in each individual economy," Mr Downer said.
It will focus on response capabilities and co-ordination between countries and examine whether developing nations would be able to cope with a major outbreak in the event bird flu mutating into a virus transmissible between humans.
"All of those issues need to be worked out," Mr Downer said.
"The results of this meeting will then be discussed further by the foreign ministers at the APEC meeting in Korea and finally by the leaders and will form the foundations of the conclusions that APEC leaders reach in Korea."
Labor accused the Government of remaining complacent about the bird flu threat for far too long.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd, who has long advocated a co-ordinated regional approach to the bird flu threat, said Mr Downer had been forced into adopting part of the Labor strategy.
"What we have seen from Mr Downer on bird flu has been rolled gold complacency," he said.
"He has only acted in response to direct political pressure.
"Labor's fear is that this regional high-level meeting, and the Australian delegation which is currently in Jakarta to discuss bird flu, may still be too little, too late."
The summit comes a fortnight before the annual meeting of APEC leaders in South Korea in mid-November, where the bird flu threat is expected to dominate talks.
Australia has provided almost $160 million to combat bird flu and SARS in Australia and the region since 2003.
Health and quarantine experts from throughout the region also will attend the summit, as will representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
