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SINGAPORE: The 20th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum kicked off in Singapore with a meeting of senior officials on Sunday.
The forum brings together 21 members located around the Pacific Ocean in an annual summit focused on economic growth, free trade and investment.
More than 10,000 delegates, including leaders and ministers, are expected at the week-long event in Singapore.
APEC leaders, including US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, will meet on November 14 and 15.
APEC members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
APEC's 21 member economies account for 40.5 per cent of the world's population, 54.2 per cent of its gross domestic product and 43.7 per cent of global trade.
The forum has worked to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers across the region. It is guided by its "Bogor Goals" (named after the 1994 summit venue in Indonesia) of free and open trade and investment. Industrialised members were meant to achieve this by 2010 and developing economies by 2020.
APEC operates on the basis of non-binding commitments, and decisions are reached by consensus.
This year, the forum comes at a time when global economies are just recovering from the worst downturn in decades. Addressing the issue, a draft APEC communique stressed that "economic recovery is not yet on a solid footing" and "we will maintain our economic stimulus policies until a durable economic recovery is secured."
On climate change, APEC will call it "one of the biggest challenges facing the world", according to the draft declaration.
The leaders will try to give a boost to a crunch global meeting on climate change next month in Copenhagen. They will stress their commitment to reaching a "good agreement in Copenhagen", according to the draft communique.
The December gathering in the Danish capital will try to thrash out a new treaty to tackle global warming, but preparatory talks have become deadlocked.
APEC executive director Michael Tay said the discussions on climate change were part of efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth.
"One way is to look at energy efficiency, the sharing of best practices, the sharing of technology," he told AFP. "We are also looking at how to give better access for trade in environmental goods and services."
- CNA/AFP/ir
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